\n<\/p>\n
What a difference a couple years of bad tweets<\/a> and alleged Nazi salutes<\/a> makes. Just a few years ago, driving a Tesla<\/a> was considered a blow against the conservative establishment<\/a>, an easy way to signal one\u2019s lefty creds and concern about the earth. Today, with its most famous investor apparently acting as the unelected ruler of the US<\/a>, the bloom is definitely off the Tesla rose, and high-profile drivers of the vehicle are ditching their Teslas in favor of other brands. The latest Tesla trade-in comes from Arizona Democratic senator Mark Kelly<\/strong>, who announced Friday that he was dumping his Tesla after \u201cElon Musk<\/strong> kind of turned out to be an asshole.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike other famous folks who have kissed their Teslas farewell, Kelly\u2019s decision appears to have been directly provoked by the car company\u2019s CEO, himself. While people like singer Sheryl Crow<\/strong><\/a> have been motivated to sell off their Teslas due to the news of the day<\/a> (pick a day<\/a>, any day<\/a>\u2026), Kelly\u2019s announcement follows an ugly online interaction with Musk via X (formerly Twitter), the social network the Tesla investor purchased, then renamed<\/a>, in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kelly, a former US Navy fighter pilot, tweeted details<\/a> from a recent visit to Ukraine earlier this week, saying, \u201cWe can\u2019t give up on the Ukrainian people.\u201d Musk reposted the tweet with the response, \u201cYou are a traitor,\u201d prompting Kelly to reply<\/a>, \u201cElon, if you don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about the exchange, Kelly said of Musk, \u201cObviously, he\u2019s not a serious guy,\u201d later telling Rachel Maddow<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cThe only oath I can think of that maybe Elon has sworn is an oath to his own checking account, to his pocketbook, an oath may be to ruining the lives of veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had veterans in my office last week who, after really good performance reports, found out that Elon Musk fired them for poor performance. He was ruining these people\u2019s lives \u2026 they did not deserve to get fired by an email from an unelected billionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n A few days later, Kelly put his money where his accelerator pedal is\u2014or where it was. In a double diss to Musk-funded companies, Kelly stood in front of his black Tesla Friday to announce via X<\/a> that he\u2019d just taken his last drive in the vehicle, as \u201cEvery 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<\/strong> is doing to our country.\u201d<\/p>\n