1. Poorly executed cash grabs
2. Childish 'trolling' behavior
3. Ambitious moonshots
The $8/checkmark/month doesn't directly fit into any of those categories. It could be 1. but I think even Musk can scrape together enough brain cells to realize that it would be an immediate disaster.
It seemingly starts as (3), then in time it's revealed to be just (1), but he's too embarrassed to admit, so he drowns all signal in the noise of monkeying around and claiming it's (2).
For example, he wanted to use his "cave mini submarine" to save those children in Thailand (3). But in time it was apparent he has no idea what he's doing, and he's risking the lives of these children to do PR for Tesla on their back (1), which hero diver Vernon Unsworth spelled out for the media, so Elon Musk lashed out calling him a "pedo-guy", and then in court claimed he's just messing around and that's a harmless insult from South Africa (2).
This is just a tiny example. You'll notice all his companies start with moonshots for the investors, then it's about him personally getting shares, power and money, and finally he masks it all with inane behavior and trolling.
The sad thing... is that it works. Say, it worked for his "taking Tesla private, funding secured" tweet. "Oh, I was... just joking!" Boom, case dismissed. Is it any surprise he keeps using the same rulebook?
At this point, it’s comical, tho. You’d think he’d have stopped digging by now.
He's proving otherwise.
Charging for blue checkmarks was always a key part of his proposal for "fixing" Twitter. Backing down on that aspect would be equivalent to admitting that he was wrong.