On the contrary, it's a cudgel and he's using it as one. Quite a few things are more mask-off these days. You say 'silly behavior', I say 'Musk actively allied with Putin to support the Russian cause, and is ready and willing to weaponize Twitter toward that end'. I don't know what it is about that man (Putin) that makes oligarchs like him so much, but if you look at the record it's a hell of a thing.

And so it's not wasted money on Musk's part, it's spent for a purpose, to seize control of what seems to be the most connected social media phenomenon out there. Facebook had to be weaponized through Cambridge Analytica and it wasn't meant to be public-facing knowledge. At this stage apparently that doesn't matter anymore.

That or it's megalomanaical overreach. Which is possible :)