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Rachel Maddow: Senator, I have to ask you, and I apologize in advance for doing this, but I have to ask you if you have any response tonight to what the president’s top campaign donor, Mr. Musk, said about you, bluntly calling you a traitor in response to you writing about your trip to Ukraine.
Mark Kelly (D): Well, Rachel, when I was 22 years old before getting sworn into the Navy, or as I was getting sworn in to the United States Navy, I swore an oath to our Constitution to protect and defend the Constitution. I have lived that oath my entire life. I flew in combat in the first Gulf War. I served in the United States Navy for 25 years. I spent 15 years at NASA, risking my life flying the Space Shuttle. And the only oath I can think of that maybe Elon has sworn is an oath to his own checking account, to his pocket book, an oath maybe to ruining the lives of veterans. I had veterans in my office last week who after really good performance reports, found out that Elon Musk fired them for poor performance. He has ruined these people’s lives. They were serving our country again, in very valuable roles, and they did not deserve to get fired by an email from an unelected billionaire. So I think Elon needs to go back to making rockets, that’s what he should focus on. He shouldn’t be focused on this slash and burn of the federal government. And by the way, Rachel, he’s doing it for one reason. He’s doing this so they create a little space. So the big giant tax cuts that they’re gonna give for millionaires and billionaires do not look as bad, does not add as much to the debt and deficit. And the way he’s gonna do it is he’s firing people. And then on top of that, he’s gonna cut healthcare for kids, kids. That 1/3 of kids get their healthcare or 1/3 of people that get their healthcare from Medicaid are children. And he’s gonna cut healthcare for seniors, all to give this big tax cut. So I would prefer if Elon went back to his old job. You know, it’s SpaceX and Tesla
Rachel Maddow: Seems like um, certainly Starlink could, or SpaceX could use some executive help at this point. Maybe some more time might be available. Senator Mark Kelly, I really appreciate you taking time.
Elon Musk isn’t trying to secure tax cuts for himself. If tax cuts were his endgame, he’d have kept his head down, stayed out of politics, and quietly lobbied for personal perks like plenty of other billionaires do, instead of sticking his neck out in a high-profile push to overhaul government fraud and waste. Senator Kelly spins a communist line, arguing tax cuts increase the debt and deficit—but that’s nonsense; he’s just echoing the D.C. insider playbook that thrives on bloated budgets and unchecked control. Let me be crystal clear: that money belongs to taxpayers, not Washington. The real issue lies in the wasteful, corrupt, and inefficient spending that Kelly has supported, contributing to a $13.1 trillion increase in debt since he took office, including his votes to suspend the debt limit. After all, Mark Kelly has been entrenched in government for a long time, cozying up to the system as a Navy officer, NASA astronaut, and now a senator—decades spent feeding off taxpayer dollars while defending the same bloated bureaucracy he fought for.
His claim is that Musk ruined veterans’ lives? Tesla and SpaceX have hired thousands of vets—hardly the actions of some vet-crushing monster. The charge is that Musk is slashing Medicaid for kids and seniors to fund tax cuts? That’s pure fiction—there’s no evidence he’s targeting vulnerable healthcare or pushing tax cuts at their expense; DOGE is about efficiency, not cruelty. Maybe Senator Mark Kelly (D) should focus on cutting wasteful spending and paying off the debt instead of smearing Musk to shield a broken and corrupt system.