Not always. Sometimes they get elected into positions of power and do far greater damage than could have been imagined.

As it becomes normalized to make any claim with no proof, and to gather followers who believe you, we regress as a civilization.

Gee I don't know who you're thinking about :-)

Yes, when Craig Wright first came along it was great because you could tell from Bitcoiners' reactions how susceptible to hype/bullshit they were. Either you accepted obvious truths about how crypto works, or you didn't. Knowing this about members of that community in particular was hugely helpful. (Now even the grifters, hype artists and clowns have had enough of Craig's bullshit.)

If Tether and Craig Wright were smacked down propmtly they might make our systems more robust, but letting their bullshit drag on for years and years hurts the ecosystem IMO.