Elon Musk, lightning rod, who calls an opponent ‘traitor,’ becomes a high-profile target

Sen. Mark Kelly, a decorated Navy veteran as well as a former astronaut, just finished a visit to Ukraine.

While the country invaded by Russia is surviving through American and allied aid, the Arizona Democrat says, “I saw how cutting it off now risks everything so many Ukrainians have laid down their lives for. And while our support hasn’t been free, we haven’t sent even half of what President Trump says.

“Hospitals should never be targets in war, but Putin is a war criminal who targets hospitals routinely. I visited one in Kyiv. Injured soldiers told me how they want to get back to the fight. Nurses there shared their stories of the invasion with me through tears. Stories of violence that women and children of Ukraine suffered during the invasion.”

Elon Musk had a venomous reaction: “You are a traitor.” 

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Seriously? A traitor? To whom? America? Donald Trump? The world’s richest man just loves to pick fights.

Kelly punched right back: “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.”

As a United States senator, Kelly was doing his job and posted a moving account of the toll of the war. He also criticized Trump for cutting off military aid to Ukraine after that Oval Office slugfest which Volodymyr Zelenskyy botched, trying to talk over Trump as he was scolded, and ended up being evicted from the White House. 

We all know that Musk is a business genius and an impulsive guy. He often delivers punches on the X platform he has transformed, with a post-first-ask-questions-later approach.

He clearly relishes political combat. Musk has engaged in bitter exchanges with Marco Rubio (though they’re playing nice now) and with Steve Bannon. But Elon has become a lightning rod, especially since his DOGE team has made a series of high-profile mistakes, firing and rehiring crucial experts.

Trump decided to stand by his man, and posted this:

“To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for…In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”

I get Trump’s defense, but he’s also opposed to electric cars and concentrates on saving American auto jobs for gas-powered vehicles.

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Musk goes off the reservation at times, such as calling Social Security, which Trump has vowed to protect, a “Ponzi Scheme” on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

And he told former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow, on Fox Business, that $500 to $700 billion in so-called “waste” needed to be cut from Social Security: “Most of the federal spending is entitlements. That’s the big one to eliminate.”

Perhaps Musk should concentrate on the plunging stock market, caused primarily by uncertainty over Trump’s tariff wars but also by worries about the impact of DOGE’s mass firings. 

People pay into Social Security over a lifetime with the expectation it will be there when they retire. It’s the main source of income for many elderly people. Of course the program eventually has to be rescued from insolvency, but talking about “the big one to eliminate” – including Medicare – seems rather callous.

And in case you think the market is only for elite investors, if you have a 401-K, the calamity on Wall Street affects you, and your retirement fund just lost a helluva lot of value.

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The market dropped again yesterday when Trump, responding to retaliation by Ontario taxing electricity to the U.S., raised the tariff on all Canadian steel and aluminum exports from 25 percent to 50 percent. The Ontario premier reacted by dropping the electricity threat.

Tesla stock has tanked since its mid-December high, with a 16 percent decline Monday, causing Musk’s net worth to plunge by $140 billion. But don’t worry–he’s still the richest guy on the planet.

He’s also become a highly visible target. As the New York Times notes, “Someone set fire to Tesla charging stations near Boston; shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon; and protesters were arrested at a nonviolent protest at a Tesla dealership in Lower Manhattan.”

Tesla cyber trucks were also torched in Seattle. 

I don’t care what you think of his politics, this kind of targeted violence is completely unacceptable, not to mention illegal.

Trump is still backing his high-profile colleague, while quietly trying to rein him in and shift power to his agency heads.

Elon Musk is a guy who wants to colonize Mars. But he often seems detached from the political realities here on Earth.