Elmo is such a clown, he's a 17-year-old with a Ferrari he barely knows how to start.
Elmo can't help himself: he needs to act out to cool his demons and blame someone else for whatever goes wrong.
But he also knows he gets a flood of press when he does something stupid, and that he can undo it out of the limelight. In many places, too, firing and rehiring the same people allows him to legally cut their wages and benefits. It's a sham, like Elmo.