> It's easy to project your hopes and dreams onto a person when you discount the meaning of their literal words and replace them with your own biases. I have no illusions that Musk's own conception of "free speech" is not just as qualified and diminished as what Twitter offers.

Right there you're doing what you accuse me of doing, just in the opposite direction.

I will admit that I am doing that to some extent, but I feel I have some reason to believe I'm more likely to be right.

One major reason is that everything he has said seems to align with what was a very common viewpoint just a few years ago, which is best summarized by the Voltaire quote:

"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

That's the sentiment behind the First Amendment and what I believe Elon Musk most likely believes in.

> ...which makes him either delusional or a manipulative liar

There are many more explanations for his past behavior other than him being delusional or a liar. He could have nuanced views, have simply failed to live up to his own ideals in specific instances, have justifications you can't imagine, etc. In any case, it's almost certainly a false dichotomy.