Correction, we went from fanatical Elon worship to a sudden realization, that he's the greatest scam artist of all time (quite literally, nobody EVER burned more tax payer and inverter money) and went into sudden shock and disbelief.

we have moved to musk hating but i fail to see how all of it could be characterised as nonsensical; there are elements for sure

I never liked Musk, even when he was "In." Even the Mars colonization meme rubbed me the wrong way, as the science does not line up with that.

It felt like a cult of personality to me. He was always a fickle jerk, a mixed bag.

You have a point though, people's opinions were largely political, I think. Or just based on pure hope/cultism