In response to posts on X by Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) about his trip to Ukraine, X owner Elon Musk called him a “traitor” on Monday. In a thread of posts, Kelly reiterated his support for continuing to fund Ukraine in its war with Russia instead of winding the war down, and attacked President Donald Trump multiple times in the thread.
Last week, Trump engaged in tense negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, resulting in a shouting match at the White House and Trump pausing intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Musk, who is working closely with Trump to cut down on bloated spending within the federal government through DOGE, has been highly critical of continuing to fund the war and prefers negotiating a peace agreement.
One of Kelly’s posts, discussing Ukrainian pilots, blamed Trump for “dead Ukrainian kids.” He said, “When Trump cut off these pilots from US intelligence that they need to plan their missions, he blinded them to the threat and put them and their aircraft at risk. But worse than that, it helps the Russians advance further into Ukrainian territory and murder more Ukrainians. President Trump says the Russians are ‘hitting them hard’ in a tone of voice that implies approval. It is sickening to see from an American President. ‘Hitting them hard’ means more dead Ukrainian kids.”
He claimed that Trump is putting the lives of Americans and American troops in danger. “Donald Trump is trying to weaken Ukraine’s hand and we are owed an explanation,” he said in a post. “If Putin gains ground he won’t agree to a ceasefire and will eventually threaten a NATO ally and this puts American troops and the American people at risk.”
Kelly implied that officials who do not agree with his worldview on Ukraine should be fired. “Government officials who can’t acknowledge factual information should reevaluate their career choices,” he said.
Ignoring the fact that the U.S. is a world leader in foreign policy, often convincing other nations to go along with its recommendations, Kelly said, “The world will become a very cold and lonely place if we continue this ridiculous ‘screw you, go it alone’ foreign policy.”
After Musk’s response, Kelly retorted back a few hours later. “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.”
Ukraine under Zelensky implemented martial law, suspended elections, dissolved opposition political parties and media, persecuted religious groups, and cannot account for the $200 billion in aid the U.S. provided. Kelly’s trip to Ukraine and his posts criticizing Trump’s negotiating process may be undermining Trump’s efforts to end the war and establish peace.
While Musk did not elaborate on how Kelly’s behavior was traitorous, the American Heritage Dictionary defines traitor as “One who betrays one’s country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason.”
The Logan Act was passed in 1799 in response to an unauthorized trip statesman George Logan made to France in 1798 as a private citizen to negotiate the end of the war with France. Although his negotiations were ultimately successful, political opponents labeled them treasonous.
Kelly’s defenders were quick to defend him by pointing out that he was an astronaut, including in Community Notes added after Musk’s post (not viewable yet until approved). However, they failed to note that Musk founded and heads up one of the leading space exploration companies in the world, SpaceX, which has surpassed NASA in many ways, replacing it as the primary source of transportation for U.S. astronauts.
Unlike President Joe Biden, whose policy towards the war was continuing to fund Ukraine, Trump is intent on negotiating a peace agreement between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Dubinsky called for the impeachment of Zelenskyy after the botched White House visit. He said Zelenskyy failed in foreign policy, causing Ukraine’s isolation from allies, and is engaging in authoritarian rule.
Last year, a confidential Ukrainian estimate placed the number of their soldiers’ deaths at 80,000, and estimates of the number of Russian troops killed ranges from 90,000 to 854,000.
Kelly responded to The Arizona Republic after the exchange, criticizing Musk some more. “He has spent the last two months trying to slash and burn the federal government in a way that’s not helpful to most Americans,” Kelly said.
Kelly attacked Musk last month as a “shill” in a fundraising letter. “Why this man — the richest person on earth, the CEO of a few big companies, the President’s best buddy — is spending his time attacking people on the internet is beyond me,” Kelly said. “I’m going to defend working families and the middle class against President Trump and Elon Musk with everything I’ve got. But I can’t do it alone.”
The X site experienced some outages Monday morning. Musk said during an interview with Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow later in the day that it was a cyberattack probably traced back to Ukraine.
Musk began providing Ukraine with his Starlink internet service free of charge in February 2022, since Russia blocked other internet access to the country.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sen. Mark Kelly” by Sen. Mark Kelly.
