In an astonishing display of patriotism, Tesla CEO and DOGE leader Elon Musk called Sen. Mark Kelly a “traitor” on X after the leftist senator shared photos from his recent visit to Ukraine and made controversial statements about a peace deal with Russia.
For context, in an X post from March 9, 2025, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told his followers that after visiting Ukraine, he felt strongly that the U.S. needed to continue providing support to the former Soviet nation. In subsequent comments, Sen. Kelly shared photos from his travels, along with criticism of President Donald Trump and his strategy for negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine.
In his post, which had racked up 10.6 million views as of April 25, 2025, Sen. Kelly began by saying, “Just left Ukraine. What I saw proved to me that we can’t give up on the Ukrainian people.” He added, “Any [peace] agreement has to protect Ukraine’s security and can’t be a giveaway to Putin.”
In a subsequent comment, Sen. Kelly weighed in on the origins of the war in Ukraine, saying, “This war started with what Putin thought would be a three-day operation to take Kyiv and control of all of Ukraine. Now, three years later, that hasn’t happened.” He added, “American and allied support has to be a big reason why.”
In a response to Sen. Kelly’s post that earned over 16,000 likes, Elon Musk, who is the primary owner of X, simply wrote, “You are a traitor,” prompting dozens of angry responses from offended liberals. A commenter with the handle Noah Smith asked, “What’s traitorous about wanting to support Ukraine?” and another added, “Did you read his thread? Doesn’t sound like a traitor to me…”
However, many conservatives sided with Mr. Musk in his criticism of Sen. Kelly’s pro-Ukraine sentiments. One X user, Matt Van Swol, called out Sen. Kelly for prioritizing Ukraine over the U.S., writing, “Hey Mark, you already gave billions to Ukraine. You did it while my town in Western North Carolina looked like this.”
Continuing his comment, Van Swol added a video of a Hurricane-ravaged area in his town, going on to say, “You never visited us here. Not once. Where does your allegiance lie? Because I promise that the people of Western North Carolina will never forget this.” In response, another commenter chimed in, “I’m trying to figure out how visiting Ukraine benefits his state of Arizona.”
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Following the tense exchange on X, NBC News reported that Sen. Kelly spoke critically of Elon Musk in an interview, quoting the Democrat senator as saying, “He’s slashed and burned the federal government to make room for a giant tax cut for billionaires like himself. I’ve sworn an oath to this country, I’ve flown in combat, I served in the Navy for 25 years. It appears to me the oath that Elon Musk stands by is the oath to billionaires to make their lives easier, not the American people, not veterans.”
Watch Elon Musk comment on Sen. Kelly:
Featured image credit: Sen. Mark Kelly via X