Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) slammed what he called senior Trump adviser Elon Musk’s loyalties to billionaires Thursday after Musk accused the Arizona senator and adorned fight veteran of placing different nations forward of the USA, the most recent salvo of their rancorous feud.
“I mean, who is Elon standing with at this point? A bunch of billionaires,” Kelly stated on CNN when requested about Musk’s newest assault towards his character.
Musk had referred to as Kelly a “traitor” on his social platform X earlier this month, after Kelly visited Ukraine to find out how fluctuating U.S. assist for the nation was affecting the morale of Ukrainians.
On Thursday, Musk, who was born in South Africa and have become a citizen of Canada after which the USA, doubled down in an interview with Fox Information’s Bret Baier on his accusation that Kelly shouldn’t be loyal to the USA.
“I believe any person ought to … care in regards to the pursuits of the USA above the pursuits of one other nation. In the event that they don’t, they’re a traitor,” Musk stated.
When Baier famous Kelly is a adorned veteran, former astronaut and sitting senator, Musk didn’t budge.
“That doesn’t mean it’s OK for him to put the interests of another country above America,” he stated.
When requested about Musk’s newest assault, Kelly advised CNN’s Erin Burnett that he wasn’t positive whether or not it deserved a response however then ticked off his lengthy record of service to the nation.
“I’ve spent an entire career standing up for our country, defending our country, flying in combat over Iraq, flying in space, on the space shuttle, serving in the United States Senate,” he stated. “My complete life has been about serving this nation.”
He then contrasted his document to Musk’s efforts because the chief of the Division of Authorities Effectivity to push federal employees out of their jobs and shutter long-standing federal businesses, such because the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement.
Democrats have additionally jumped on Musk’s remark that Social Safety is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” accusing him of wanting to chop this system to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
“I mean, who is Elon standing with at this point? A bunch of billionaires. It seems to me that some folks in this administration sort of switched,” he added.
Kelly then implicitly questioned Musk’s loyalty to the nation by declaring that his stance on the Ukraine-Russia battle aligns with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a longtime adversary of the USA.
“I would put Elon at this point in the category of being much closer to Russia on this issue,” the senator stated.
“I want this thing to end as much as anybody,” he continued of the battle. “But he throws this ‘traitor’ word around, at least with regards to me, fairly freely. I don’t think he’s a serious guy, and he hasn’t given this a lot of thought.”