How Much of Elon Musk's Personal Assets Are at Risk in the Public Feud with Trump?

Elon Musk is currently in a direct financial battle with the most powerful man in the world — President Donald Trump — and the damage is rapidly increasing. On Thursday, after Elon criticized Trump's latest federal spending bill, Trump responded fiercely by threatening to cancel government contracts from all of Elon's companies. Elon then escalated the issue. He said Trump would never be re-elected without him and added that SpaceX would shut down the Dragon spacecraft immediately if the president cut funding. In just a few hours, Tesla's stock plummeted to the point that $152 billion was wiped off the company's value, the largest single-day loss Tesla has ever seen. Elon Musk's personal wealth has decreased by $34 billion this week, bringing his total losses to nearly $200 billion. Donald Trump Threatens Contracts, Tesla Loses 152 Billion USD Just a few days ago, Elon and Trump were very close. Elon was given the role of advisor in the Trump administration and even let the president look after his child on Air Force One and inside the Oval Office. Now it's no longer the case. After everything calmed down, Tesla rebounded 5% in pre-market trading on Friday, but the losses are still significant. Tesla's current issues go far beyond this friendship-turned-rivalry. Weak sales, Elon has to juggle multiple companies at once, and investors are becoming increasingly worried. Wall Street has questioned his leadership ability for months, and this has only made things worse. Tom Hulick, CEO of Strategy Asset Managers, said on Friday during CNBC's Squawk Box Europe that investors are right to be concerned when "two people are sparring with each other like Trump and Musk are doing now." Hulick also tried to promote calmness, calling the situation a "schoolyard spat" and urging everyone to focus on data from Tesla — including earnings, cost-cutting, and infrastructure efforts in the U.S. and abroad. "Whether there is a spat between Trump and Musk or between two different countries," he said, "I think people will settle down and cooler heads will prevail." But this is not just about stock prices. Trump has the power to cancel or delay contracts worth billions of dollars. This includes defense and intelligence agreements that do not even appear in the public record. And while Elon once said, "If I cared about subsidies, I would have gotten into the oil industry," his empire tells a different story. Government Cash Fuels Elon Musk's Empire In the past two decades, Elon’s businesses have been built with help from the U.S. government. Whether it’s low-interest loans, tax incentives, or direct federal contracts, he has amassed tens of billions of dollars in support. The Washington Post reports the figure at $38 billion, although that figure may not include a large portion of classified deals from defense agencies. That is a huge sum of taxpayer money supporting companies that Elon claims are self-sufficient. Now, with Trump threatening to cut off the flow, Elon may have to witness a significant loss of revenue in all of his companies. Paul Levinson, a communications professor at Fordham University, believes that Elon will overcome. "Musk has enough resources to sustain those losses, reorganize, and rebuild his companies and stakes, and win," Levinson said. "The bottom line: if all the Trump administration does in its confrontation with Musk is attack his financial interests, Musk is likely not only to survive but also to continue to thrive." However, that does not change what is being threatened. This is not a debate on Twitter. This is the President of the United States threatening to withdraw billions of dollars in taxpayer-supported transactions from the richest people in the world. And the financial bleeding has begun.