Yea, there was even that idea to launch 1000s of satellites into LEO on a reusable rocket system. Crazy. How did people fall for that? There's not even that many satellites in total today.
Recall that while he managed to hire the right people to get reusable rockets cheap enough for Starlink, it was also the case that in 2016 he said that SpaceX was aiming to use the 2018 Mars launch window for what is now Starship, and also that some time around 2018 it would be possible to summon your Tesla car from the other side of the country and it would find its way to you autonomously and only stop for charging.
Unless you're counting the ongoing dismissals of those as examples of "they lie for their own advantage"?
On the other hand, while every brain scientist I've heard dismisses Neuralink, every civil engineer dismisses TBC, and bluntly the shiny prospectuses for each of the moon based factories and the Earth-based Optimus factories are on the wrong side of the laws of thermodynamics, I was surprised to see Solar City's roof shingles fail in the marketplace.