> Why is there a cult following when fraud and employee abuse is common?

Musk can present an image of a successful multiple entrepreneur who is working towards a vision that many support arrayed against a forces of Big Bad Incumbents who would rather squash him than compete fairly. Thus he is responsible for all the good things, and the bad things are just smear campaigns that should be ignored.

Essentially, it's the same force that fuels the rise of people like Trump, just applied to a different part of the political spectrum.