Maybe Tesla had to use the tax money for competitive reasons and under investor pressure, and Musk personally disagrees with the general system of government handouts. Ok I’ll buy that but I haven’t heard such a nuanced take from him.
An NBA coach may not like changes in rules around “traveling” in the past 20 years, but either they embrace the new rules and have their players take the extra step or they just lose to teams that do.
Advocate for the rules you want, but play the game with the rules it actually has.
Complaints of the following form are generally not reasonable:
“You advocated for A, but the actual rules are still B. How dare you play as if the rules are B and not A!!?”
But I get what you’re ultimately saying, which is what I said — it would be a competitive disadvantage to Tesla if it turned down this money and its competitors did not. So it may accept it reluctantly while disagreeing with the overall handout. Again I have not heard that take from Musk. He just rails against the government.