Democrat fires again nasty accusation in opposition to Elon Musk as ‘traitor’ spat intensifies
Democratic Senator Mark Kelly fired back at Elon Musk after the tech billionaire doubled down on calling the U.S. combat veteran a ‘traitor.’
The Arizona lawmaker clapped back on Thursday night in a spat that has intensified since Musk made his nasty accusation earlier this month after Kelly traveled to Ukraine.
‘I don’t even know if he deserves a response,’ Kelly started with a sigh on CNN.
‘Who is Elon standing with at this point? A bunch of billionaires,’ the Democratic senator later went on in scathing response.
‘Seems to me that some folks in the administration sort of switched sides here,’ Kelly said. ‘I would put Elon at this point in the category of being much closer to Russia on this issue.’
The senator noted the war in Ukraine is between a U.S. allies against a longtime adversary, Russia.
‘I want this thing to end as much as anybody, but he throws this “traitor” word around, at least with regards to me fairly freely,’ he noted.
‘I don’t think he’s a serious guy, and he hasn’t given this a lot of thought,’ Kelly said.
Senator Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) responds to Elon Musk calling him a ‘traitor’ by accusing the billionaire of being closer to Russia
The senator also argued he has spent an entire career standing up for the U.S., including serving in combat, as an astronaut and in the Senate.
‘My entire life has been about serving this country, and I always stand with the best interest of our nation,’ he said. ‘Standing with our allies and standing up for democracy is in the best interest of the United States.’
Kelly was responding to Musk repeating his attack on the senator he first made on X.
Musk posted ‘traitor’ after the senator wrote about traveling to meet with officials and injured Ukrainians in Kyiv earlier this month and pushed for the U.S. to continue to support its longtime ally after Russia’s invasion.
The South African Trump ally was asked about it in his interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Thursday.
‘You posted that he was a traitor. Why do that?’ Baier asked.
‘Well I think somebody should be, should care about the interests of the United States above the interests of another country,’ Musk said. ‘And if they don’t, they’re a traitor.’
Baier pointed out that Kelly is a decorated veteran, former astronaut and sitting senator.
‘That doesn’t mean he’s, it’s ok for him to put the interests of another country above America,’ Musk said.
In a separate post on X on Thursday, Kelly also blasted the billionaire claiming he still doesn’t get it.
‘Supporting our allies and defending democracy makes our country safer,’ the senator wrote.
‘What you’re doing, firing veterans and attacking Social Security, that only serves you and your billionaire friends looking for a tax cut,’ he added.
Kelly also had a blistering reaction after Musk first went after him for his trip.
‘He’s not a serious guy. He should go back to building rockets,’ the retired NASA astronaut told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked about the billionaire’s online attack.
The Arizona lawmaker has been a vocal advocate for negotiating an end to the war that has raged since 2022, but he has also warned that Russia needs to walk away knowing it cannot invade another country again without consequences.
