Senator Mark Kelly mentioned he was eliminating his Tesla Mannequin S after billionaire Elon Musk referred to as the senator a "traitor" on his social media platform X for visiting Ukraine simply days after the U.S. paused army assist to Kyiv.

“I’m right here in Washington driving to work for the final time in my Tesla,” Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, mentioned in a video posted on X on March 14.

"After I purchased this factor, I didn’t assume it was going to turn out to be a political challenge. Each time I get on this automobile within the final 60 days or so, it jogs my memory of simply how a lot injury Elon Musk and Donald Trump is doing to our nation," he mentioned within the video.

Musk, proprietor of SpaceX and now head of the U.S. President Donald Trump's new Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), referred to as Kelly a "traitor" on X on March 10 in a thread of the senator's journey to Ukraine, which included visits with officers and embassy workers, in addition to nurses, volunteers, and troopers.

Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut who used to work with Musk's SpaceX, swiftly replied, criticizing Musk’s stance.

"Traitor? Elon, for those who don't perceive that defending freedom is a fundamental tenet of what makes America nice and retains us secure, perhaps you must depart it to these of us who do," he wrote on March 10.

Alongside together with his video saying that he was ditching his Tesla on March 14, Kelly wrote, "I purchased a Tesla as a result of it was quick like a rocket ship. However now each time I drive it, I really feel like a rolling billboard for a person dismantling our authorities and hurting individuals. So Tesla, you’re fired!"

"New experience coming quickly," he wrote.

The Musk-Kelly change got here amid heightened tensions between the Trump administration and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and a heated argument within the Oval Workplace earlier this month.

Because the Trump workforce appears to carry a swift finish to the battle in Ukraine, it has more and more put strain on Kyiv, together with briefly pausing army assist and intelligence sharing, whereas up to now making little calls for of Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

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