LOS ANGELES — The moment that crystallized the ethos of Elon Musk for Janet Yoshitake, 71, was when the CEO of Tesla told podcaster Joe Rogan that the “fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”


For Joel Morin, a 67-year-old self-described “cable guy” from San Diego, it was Musk’s decision to pace the stage in sunglasses at the Conservative Political Action Conference throttling a chain saw “while putting tens of thousands of Americans out of work just to enrich himself.”


Meta Valentic, a Democrat from Culver City, California, who did not want to give her age, said she can no longer listen to Musk’s voice because it makes her feel physically ill. She is most angered by what she describes as Musk’s “hypocrisy” as he has slashed government services as a special adviser to President Donald Trump without acknowledging how he has relied on government largesse and policies to build his own empires.


“He made his money off the backs of all of us,” she said, referring to Musk’s reliance on at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits for his businesses, according to a Washington Post analysis. “He may think that we don’t need to help the rest of the world, but he’s from the rest of the world — and we sure helped him.”