Elon Musk has sparked a massive backlash after accusing Senator Mark Kelly of being a “traitor.” The feud began after Kelly, a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and astronaut, visited Ukraine and called for continued U.S. support in the face of Russia’s aggression.
“You are a traitor,” the tech billionaire told the senator on Monday. The accusation came after Kelly posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, about his experience in Ukraine and his views on the war. It didn’t take long for Kelly to respond.
“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,” Kelly shot back.
Kelly had just returned from his third trip to Ukraine since 2023, where he visited a military hospital, met with Red Cross workers, and spoke with Ukrainian pilots defending their country from Russian air strikes.
“No one wants this war to end more than President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people,” Kelly said in a statement. “But it has to end in a way that protects their sovereignty and security. The safety of Ukraine is tied to the safety of the United States, that’s why I stand with Ukraine.”
Kelly also posted on X Monday, taking a shot at Musk’s stance on the war. “It’s not ‘America First’ to pull the rug out from under an ally and leave their people to die,” he wrote. “This kind of foreign policy will end with no one in the world trusting America.”
Kelly’s trip to Ukraine came shortly after a tense meeting between former President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, and Vice President JD Vance at the White House. Vance clashed with Zelenskyy, leading the Ukrainian leader to leave without securing U.S. security guarantees in exchange for Ukrainian rare earth minerals. Following that meeting, Trump froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine and threatened sanctions on Russia in response to its brutal bombing campaigns.
This isn’t the first time Musk has attacked Kelly. Last month, Musk called the senator a “Dem donor shill” after Kelly and his brother, retired astronaut Scott Kelly, criticized Musk’s insulting comments about a Danish astronaut. Kelly then challenged Musk to “climb into a rocket ship” before making any more comments.
“If he’s ready to go up into space at any time, I am happy to go with him,” Kelly said. “I know where the space station is, how to get there, I’ll be happy to join him on that mission.”
Musk’s “traitor” comment set off a firestorm on X, with many users blasting him for the insult.
“You should be ashamed of yourself. The man fought for America. He is with those fighting for freedom,” Ukraine’s ambassador, Olexander Scherba, wrote. He added, “What have you ever fought aside from drug addiction?”
Another user responded, “I’d like to call you a clown, but it’d be a disservice to the clown profession.”
Commentator Alan Rosca weighed in as well, writing, “Whatever it is that Ye suffers from, Musk must have gotten the same illness. It’s slowly progressing. And it’s really sad to see his deterioration from the man he used to be years ago. Some sort of mind virus?”
Even Musk’s own followers criticized his remarks.
“Man, I really like what you did so far, but this is getting crazy. Putin is the dictator and the crazy here. What this senator is saying is perfectly reasonable,” one of Musk’s fans wrote.
