Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and one of Trump's top advisers, accusing Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly of being a “traitor” after a trip to Ukraine on Monday, said the US should continue to support the war with Russia.
Kelly, a former NASA astronaut and navy pilot who flew a combat mission during Operation Desert Storm, visited Ukraine over the weekend, meeting members of the Ukrainian army, nurses and others, concluded in a social media post, “We cannot give up on Ukrainians.”
In response, Musk wrote: “You are a traitor.”
And with that, one of the president's strong supporters identified policy inconsistencies with one of the most serious crimes against the United States.
On Monday, Kelly fought back against Musk.
“Elon, if you don't understand that freedom of defense is the fundamental doctrine of what makes America great and keeps us safe, then you should leave it to our people,” he wrote to X, owned by Musk.
Their public nausea told him that, less than two weeks after Trump had begun Ukrainian President Volodymie Zelensky in his oval office, he hadn't appreciated enough support for the war against Russian invasion.
Kelly's original post also directly accused President Trump of “trying to weaken Ukrainian hands” in pursuit of a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Ukraine must be willing to give up its territory in a peace agreement with Russia.
While strengthening Russia, Trump's hostility towards Ukraine has been criticized by some Republicans as well as Democrats. During the Biden administration, members of both Congressional parties approved sending billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine for fighting Russian invasions.
Musk and Kelly have thrust their heads in before, but Kelly was once a member of the independent safety advisory board for SpaceX, another company owned by Musk.
In February, Musk said in a joint interview with Trump about Fox News' “Honity,” NASA astronauts were stuck on the International Space Station “for political reasons.” Musk also called Kelly “Dem Donor Sill” in a post that criticized his twin brother Scott Kelly (a former astronaut who once commanded the International Space Station) and his twin brother Scott Kelly, who is Danish astronaut Andreas Morgensen, who criticized Musk's comments.
“Hey @elonmusk, talk to the three of us when we finally climbed our nerves onto the rocket ship,” Kelly retorted.
Theodore Schleifer Reports of contributions.
