People who think Elon has not changed are in full self-delusion mode. He never used to do the things he's doing now on Twitter. I've followed him closely for years now, defending in various venues against misinterpretation of his various utterances. Now? Not so much. His political tweets are mostly lies, or amplifying the lies of despicable people (Nazi sympathizers, conspiracy theorists, climate change denialists, vaccination denialists, alt-right trolls, etc.). Many of the other things he says, outside of Tesla and SpaceX, are demeaning and insulting to people. He's become the crazy uncle you really wish would just STFU and go away.
Just what is wrong with him I don't know. Whether it's temporary or fixable I don't know. But what I do know, from reading and listening to Elon himself, is that he's gone from being a 100% hard-core tech nerd to being a part-time political jackass. To claim that "Elon has not changed" is to ignore the evidence staring you in the face.
He's still got all the same crowd attacking him and his companies, all the FUD is still out there, but now the war has opened up on a whole new front where most of his previous defenders have left the field of battle. In the "media" battle Elon is losing worse than ever, and will continue to do so if he doesn't regain his former level of sanity. Every time he posts another political lie he chips away at his credibility regarding anything he says about any of his endeavors(e.g. Tesla). It's own goal after own goal, while he self-righteously insists that own goals are completely within the rules.