Most people are capable of recognizing that countries are not monoliths, but a collection of separate entities, so that it is possible to treat a country's politics and its car brands differently.

It is really hard to do that for Elon Musk the politician and Elon Musk the Tesla CEO, since they're the same person.

you're comparing the actions of a government vs those of the ceo. of course any company in china is more linked to the gov than most in the US, but BYD's ceo is far more likeable and less offensive to the majority

China isn't here destroying my country. They aren't trying to destroy the department of education. They aren't trying to destroy the entire research establishment.

This has nothing to do with PR. China can say whatever it wants, but it doesn't really affect my life much. Musk is having a direct massive negative effect.

People are plenty happy to make that distinction over US invasions which ended up killing millions of people, overseas black sites, extraordinary rendition, and electoral interference. Why is it surprising they'd do the same with China?

It's a good point.