A lot of EV startups like NKLA are going to come and go but very few if any will be able to replicate Teslas success in the long term. Retail investors are not always stupid, many of the same Tesla investors have been shorting NKLA since it came on via a spac offering.

Personally I don’t always love everything Elon does but I view him in many ways as a modern day Edison. It’s always funny to me to go back and read stuff said about Edison while he was alive. I very much color my view of Musk by historical perspective and try not to get lost in present day minutia.

I'm not sure why that's interesting or important. The Tesla fanboys had no special insight into Tesla, Elon or anything. They are part of a cult of personality that bought the marketing hook, line, and sinker.

Only about a year ago there were hundreds of Trevor Milton fanboys all over HN, Reddit and elsewhere just sure that Nikola was the next Tesla and anyone that didn't agree was just "bitter" or had no vision. Where are they now?

There's no difference between either group of fanboys, really. Other than one got lucky and their cult leader delivered on some of his claims.

Matt Levine has also struck me as more amused-- and perhaps confused-- than bitter about this.

BTW, you can subscribe to the email newsletter for Money Stuff, then you can access it without paying for a subscription to Bloomberg.

Matt Levine wrote an article mocking them for buying Hertz stock, then a bit later another one saying "wait no that was actually a very smart thing".