Elon is not playing 5d chess. He can’t even play 1d connect the dots. The Saudi’s have good reasons to save his ass though. By enabling him to buy Twitter, at best they get control of a worldwide propaganda platform, at worst they only spent 22Billion to kill a universally known communication platform that is a thorn in every totalitarian regime in the world. In addition, they gain they some control over the richest man in the US.