Musk calls Sen. Kelly a 'traitor' over Ukraine visit; Kelly responds.
Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and president of the Department of Government Efficiency, labeled Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly a "traitor" in a post on X after Kelly revealed that he had traveled to Ukraine over the weekend.
In a thread on X Sunday night, Kelly uploaded images of his journey to Ukraine and stated, "Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement must protect Ukraine's security and cannot be a giveaway to Putin."
Musk responded to the thread, saying, "You are a traitor."
Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, answered with a different post on X.
"Traitor? "Elon, if you don't understand that defending freedom is a fundamental tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do," wrote Kelly, who recently made his third trip to Ukraine since 2023.
Kelly later explained to reporters that the billionaire was "not a serious guy" and should "go back to building rockets."
"He said he's slashed and burned the federal government to make room for a giant tax cut for billionaires like himself," Kelly told reporters one day after returning from his third visit to Ukraine. "I have taken an oath to this country. I have flown in combat. I've been in the Navy for 25 years. Elon Musk's oath appears to be one to billionaires: make their lives simpler, not those of Americans or veterans. I mean, he's terminating employees at VA hospitals. He is not a serious guy. He should return to making rockets."
Kelly described his trip as "emotional" sometimes, citing meetings with Ukrainian politicians, embassy workers, and military officers.
"This is existential for them, and again, over the past week or so, we've made it harder for them," Kelly told me.
He emphasized the importance of assisting Ukraine with the required ammunition and intelligence to avoid more losses.
"If they don't get the munitions that are sitting on the other side of the border, more Ukrainians will die," he was saying. "And these people, I assure you from my talks with them, will stick with us. We stick with them. They will be there for us in the future, regardless of what we need."
Musk, one of President Donald Trump's closest advisers, made the remarks weeks after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had an acrimonious encounter in the Oval Office that turned into a yelling war. During the astonishing exchange, Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Zelenskyy for his management of the war, incorrectly blaming the Ukrainian leader for a conflict that began with Russia's Vladimir Putin launching a full-scale invasion.
After the meeting, Zelenskyy withdrew without signing an agreement that would have granted the US access to Ukraine's mineral resources, which the country had thought would assure the continuous supply of US military aid while it battled Russia.
Trump's administration has radically shifted away from the "ironclad" support for Ukraine that former President Joe Biden provided. Trump has wrongly blamed Ukraine for beginning the war with Russia, labeled Zelenskyy a "dictator," and suspended military aid and intelligence support in an attempt to force Ukraine to make concessions to Russia.
Kelly, along with other Democrats, has criticized Trump's attitude to Ukraine.
"If we abandon our ally Ukraine, we will be viewed by other countries, including our other allies, as untrustworthy, and in the future, we shouldn't expect their help," X. Kelly wrote.
Kelly and Musk have already feuded. When Musk attacked Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen last month, calling him "an idiot," Kelly and his brother Scott Kelly, who is also an astronaut, responded.
"Hey @ElonMusk, when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us," Kelly posted on Instagram.