Elon Musk doubles-down on calling Sen. Mark Kelly a 'traitor'
- Senator Mark Kelly and Elon Musk are engaged in a public feud that began with a disagreement over space policy and escalated to personal attacks.
- Musk called Kelly a "traitor" for supporting Ukraine, prompting Kelly to criticize Musk's stance on national security and social programs.
- The feud escalated further when Kelly announced he was selling his Tesla in protest of Musk's behavior and policies.
The acrimony between Sen. Mark Kelly and Elon Musk, seemingly President Donald Trump’s top policy lieutenant, has gotten another prime-time boost.
Musk, the world’s richest man and the person overseeing the mass layoffs of federal government workers across the country, sat for an interview with Fox News on March 27.
Musk stood by an earlier social media post in which he called the Arizona Democrat a “traitor” after Kelly visited Ukraine.
“I think somebody should care about the interests of the United States above the interests of another country. If they don’t, they’re a traitor.”
When reminded that Kelly is a decorated veteran, astronaut and senator, Musk was unmoved.
For his part, Kelly stood his ground in an appearance on CNN afterward.
“I’ve spent an entire career standing up for our country, defending our country, flying in combat over Iraq, flying in space, on the space shuttle, serving in the United States Senate,” he said. “My entire life has been about serving this country.”
Kelly described Musk as the No. 2 most powerful person in America and again linked Musk’s mass layoffs across the government to creating the budget space needed to help renew the expiring Trump tax cuts that were tilted to corporate taxpayers and the wealthy.
“He’s firing veterans. He’s randomly firing government employees who did not deserve to get fired. He calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme. He’s trying to create some room in the budget to give a big, giant tax cut to billionaires and multi-millionaires. That’s what he’s up to," Kelly said. "… I think he needs to stay in his own lane, making rockets, making cars. He also might be a little upset that I sold his car.”
The two have sparred from afar for weeks over space, Ukraine and Teslas.
It began Feb. 20 in a dispute that didn’t involve Kelly at all. Musk asserted that former President Joe Biden “abandoned” two U.S. astronauts whose mission to the International Space Station lasted about six months longer than expected.
The astronauts, who returned to Earth on March 18 aboard Musk’s SpaceX, said they didn’t feel abandoned.
A Danish astronaut called Musk’s comments claiming a political motivation behind the prolonged stay in space a “lie.” Musk called the Danish astronaut “fully retarded.”
Kelly’s brother, Scott Kelly, a fellow astronaut, vouched for the Danish astronaut and said he didn’t deserve that kind of disrespect.
Musk replied that he did, and trashed Mark Kelly. “Your brother claims to be independent, but is just a Dem donor shill,” Musk wrote.
That prompted Mark Kelly to respond.
“Hey (Elon Musk), when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us,” he wrote.
The friction seemed over until March 10, when Mark Kelly posted on X that he had visited Ukraine for the third time since Russia invaded that country in 2022.
The visit came after the stunning spectacle in the Oval Office on Feb. 28 in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he should be grateful for U.S. aid. Zelenskyy left the White House shortly afterward without signing a trade deal that was part of his visit.
The day before Kelly’s social media post, Musk had tweeted that his mobile satellite service Starlink was the “backbone of the Ukrainian army” and that “their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”
The Polish foreign minister disputed that and added to international tensions over U.S. reversals on Ukraine.
“The safety of Ukraine is tied to the safety of the United States, that’s why I stand with Ukraine,” Kelly said March 10 in a written statement that underscored the split in American politics on the issue.
It drew Musk’s brief response to his 220 million followers: “You are a traitor.”
Kelly didn’t let the matter end there.
“Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do,” Kelly said.
On March 14, Kelly turned to announce he was selling his Tesla, the electric automaker owned by Musk.
“There are some things I really liked about it. There are some things I didn’t like about it. But that doesn’t matter,” Kelly said with a black Tesla in the background. “What matters is doing the right thing. I think it’s time to get rid of it.
“Elon Musk kind of turned out to be an a------, and I don’t want to be driving the car built and designed by an a------. So, I’m looking forward to my new ride.”
Kelly said he came to no longer like the car over the past 60 days, the period when Trump returned to the White House and Musk has targeted veterans, senior citizens and the poor with budget cuts.
Kelly’s swipe at Musk comes after Trump hopped into a Tesla with Musk outside the White House. Trump said on social media he planned to buy one of the vehicles. The carmaker’s stock has skidded 38% since Trump returned to the White House.