Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly introduced in a video posted to his social media account that he’s giving up his Tesla, citing “asshole” habits by Donald Trump megadonor Elon Musk, the multibillionaire Tesla CEO who additionally heads the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity.
Kelly mentioned that Friday was his final day driving to the Capitol in his Tesla Mannequin S, which he purchased just a few years in the past. The senator mentioned when he initially purchased the automobile he didn’t assume it might develop into a political situation, however “every time I get in this car in the last 60 days or so it reminds me of just how much damage Elon Musk and Donald Trump is doing to our country.”
“Elon Musk kind of turned out to be an asshole, and I don’t want to be driving a car built and designed by an asshole,” he concluded.
The Democratic senator’s transfer stands in sharp distinction to Trump and his most loyal Republican toadies, who have fully wedded themselves to the financially ailing electrical automobile firm owned by Musk.
After nationwide protests at Tesla dealerships and showrooms and whining about these protests from Musk, Trump introduced that he would buy one of many vehicles. He then proceeded to make use of the publicly owned White Home garden for a gross sales pitch for Tesla vehicles, even studying from gross sales notes touting the automobile’s purported advantages.
Musk and DOGE have launched a sequence of assaults on key authorities businesses, making a rising backlash towards Tesla. The electrical automobile firm’s inventory worth has dropped by almost half previously six months as Musk has entrenched himself in Trump’s “MAGA” model of politics.
Continued affiliation with Trump and Musk, who’ve misplaced floor in public assist in latest weeks, is unlikely to assist the corporate—which was already bailed out as soon as by the Obama administration, by the way in which.
Kelly isn’t alone in ditching his Tesla. Individuals throughout the nation are eliminating theirs and posting on social media platforms about how nice it feels to not be driving a “swasticar” anymore.
Pop singer Sheryl Crow introduced in February that she removed her Tesla and donated the cash to Nationwide Public Radio, “which is under threat by President Musk.”
Equally, Cassandra Peterson—higher referred to as the tv persona Elvira, Mistress of the Darkish—donated her automobile to NPR.
“I don’t want to drive something around that represents a person who is directly trying to take away our freedoms,” she informed The Oregonian.
Kelly’s choice to dump his Tesla comes only a few days after Musk accused the extensively revered senator of being a “traitor” for expressing his assist for Ukraine’s independence from Russia.
“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 responded.
Kelly is a former Navy captain who served on a number of fight missions within the first Gulf Warfare. He went on to develop into a NASA astronaut and flew on board 4 house shuttle missions, together with two the place he served as shuttle commander.
The senator is married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot and severely injured in a mass taking pictures whereas she was assembly constituents exterior an Arizona grocery retailer in 2011. Kelly and Giffords have fiercely advocated for gun security, with Kelly later efficiently working for the Senate seat he has held since 2021.
In the meantime, Musk poses with chainsaws, disowns and neglects a few of his 14 kids with 4 completely different girls, assaults the federal authorities, and loves racism.
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