I tend to think it's more internet-poisoning than yes-men. When he was sleeping in his office and living and breathing his companies, he didn't have time to get corrupted by social media.

Then he slowed down once his companies got big-enough and stable-enough to run themselves. His transphobia (combined with his hatred of the COVID policies that were hurting his bottom line) led him down the worst internet rabbit-holes and now he's off the deep end.