Tesla did lobby, quite a bit. They've also been angry about the subsidies that require cars to be union made.
Tesla was already a successful, innovative electric car company before it started lobbying like a regular car company.
All of the risk that paid off (what makes a businessman a good businessman) was done in the early days when he invested 6.5 million that he turned into billions.
He didn't create the company, and he didn't create the Roadster.
He deserves credit for believing in the David and turning it into Goliath (of EVs), even if government subsidies helped.
I support the government subsidizing clean energy, electric cars and cheaper access to space and I think it's hypocritical to turn around and shit on the companies that take advantage of those subsidies and do exactly the thing that they are meant to encourage.
Why didn't Ford and Boeing, companies with a much better footing than Musk, simply move into those sectors (EVs and re-usable rockets, respectively) and mop up all those subsidies for themselves?