From my perspective, this doesn’t seem very complicated. Putin is rumored to be the richest (now second or third richest) man in the world. Elon gave what would have previously been well within Putin’s budget and look at the absolute subjugation Trump is willing to put up with. This was always a quid pro quo, but Trump doesn’t operate on Kompromat. In my opinion, it’s just buying favor because it literally is that transactional. Trump will only rip you off if he thinks he can get away with it unscathed.