I very much doubt that biker gangs, for example, have the slightest idea of ancient Hindu symbols or the philosophy of National Socialism, and yet they love having swastikas on their jackets or on their skin. Peer pressure. It's what they do. But biker gangs want no government at all, and National Socialists wanted government to be everything--as long as they are the government, bien entendu. They couldn't be farther apart. Musk, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing.
As for absolute adherence to being a party candidate, I agree 99% of the time, but I can't forget the very first time I voted. I was 19 and living in Philadelphia (college). There was an open race for mayor. Philly was a guaranteed Democratic town, and no Republican was ever going to win the race for mayor. The city Democratic machine was as corrupt as could be, so they nominated someone they could easily manipulate. They nominated the sadistic, oafish police commissioner, Frank Rizzo. The Republicans found their sacrificial lamb, a mild, softly spoken bureaucrat named Thatcher Longstreth. Rizzo won, of course, and quickly switched parties to become a Republican (this was 1971), went down to hang with Nixon and celebrate the Vietnam war, but soon was forced to resign when it was found he was building a huge mansion costing ten times his salary. That was too much even for the Republicans. After all, this was Pennsylvania, not Florida. I voted for Longstreth, the only time I ever voted for a Republican. There was no way I was ever going to vote for sadistic, dim-witted police commissioner whose trademark was to show up at formal events with a smirk and a billy club in his cummerbund (literally! That was not a joke), no matter what his party affiliation.
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