Since most of Musk's cash comes from selling Tesla shares, perhaps this downward trend is a good opportunity for the U.S. government to buy SpaceX from him at a discount (or for the SpaceX investors to push for an IPO).
I recall ULA being more diversified across states, so it'd probably make a bunch of legislators happier anyhow.
Take a look at the Space Launch System, for example. It's not the best and it sure isn't the cheapest, but reusing factories built for Space Shuttle components does get politicians re-elected!
That said, no way musk gives up his desire to rule over mars or control asteroid mining industry over a few billion dollars.
Frankly, he seems trumpish by the day. I don't think he has anyone close to him who cares for him and isn't afraid of upsetting him. Surround yourself with yes men and never apologize for anything, the true way of insecure and isolated powerful men.
NASA leadership seems to think NASA’s job is primarily to set requirements and distribute funds to contractors and to avoid managing, building, or operating anything if it can possibly be avoided. They just want to pay someone to do something and slap a NASA logo on it and pat themselves on the back for their “achievement”.
The only real reason why they'd want to do that, is to get rid of actual innovation in space to get back to the wasteful go-nowhere days of cost-plus contracting as a jobs program.
I guess they can finance the acquisition by transferring the debt to the company itself (probably an LBO?).
The teams are great, so it would be a matter of keeping the operational teams and the board the way they are, a separate entity, etc.
I see SpaceX as a very strategic company that can benefit everyone (hence the push for public ownership).
This would render it mediocre over time, then it would slowly wilt into the apathetic evil that killed the Challenger and Columbia astronauts.