They were ahead of nation states, but China has already closed the gap (wrt reusable vehicles). Musk squandered the first mover advantages of Tesla and SpaceX for individual power and wealth instead of the long term success of those enterprises. And so, it’s not unreasonable for folks to say Tesla and SpaceX were just tools for a grifter to become the wealthiest person in the world; that’s what he was optimizing for, based on the evidence. Musk cares about power, control, and himself, broadly speaking.

Does it matter in the long run? Probably not. Musk will be like Gates with more wealth; speaking circuit while others build at scale (China is ~1/3 of global manufacturing capacity).