this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025

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223

Democratic Senator Mark Kelly to let go of his Tesla over Musk’s federal cuts (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 14 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

Democratic Senator and former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly announced he's getting rid of his Tesla, citing owner Elon Musk's role in federal budget cuts and social program reductions.

Kelly said the car reminds him of "how much damage Elon Musk and Donald Trump is doing to our country" and stated he doesn't want to drive a car "built and designed by an asshole."

The decision follows a clash where Musk called Kelly a "traitor" over Ukraine-related comments.

Kelly's move joins others like singer Sheryl Crow in boycotting Tesla, as Musk's political involvement has triggered sales declines, boycotts, and vandalism against the company.

top 31 comments

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

Mark Kelly 2028! This man is a real hero

[–] medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world 27 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Donate the thing to a car smashing fundraiser, where all the proceeds to go to something Musk killed - USAID, kids lunch programs... there's a list to choose from.

Edit: Hold the fundraiser in sight of a Tesla dealership, or somewhere near the Whitehouse.

[–] SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world 15 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

Musk took his money already, so he ain't gonna GAF. He'll play up the "persecution" so Trumpers will buy them en masse in "righteous support." Fuckwads, the lot of 'em.

[–] nickiwest@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

I don't think the average American can afford a Tesla, let alone the average Trump voter.

[–] usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml 15 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Massive oversuppply in the used car market makes used car prices really low - thus making new car purchases less likely

He does care in the aggregate

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

More cars in the used market can lower prices, but only if they're cars people want to buy.

Left doesn't want to be seen in a Tesla, right doesn't want any EV at all.

[–] radiohead37@lemmynsfw.com 21 points 12 hours ago

Each Tesla on the used market is a new car Tesla doesn’t get to sell.

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 3 points 12 hours ago

An electrified future would be the only silver lining that can come from all of this, even if it is from swastikars. The chargers (going forward) are standardized and universal, so the infrastructure will work for others as well.

[–] PeteZa@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago

A man of principle. I like that.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Virtue signaling. Should've dumped your Tesla when Musk turned Twitter into ground zero for Nazi resurgence.

[+] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com -38 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

But he thought it was cool to have one in the first place.

Send him home.

EDIT: I will double-down for the downvoters. There was never, ever anything cool about owning a Tesla. Only superficial cunts bought them. If that's you, own it.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

What a dumb take.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 25 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Uh... Maybe he thought it was cool to use an EV and not contribute to dooming the planet?

[+] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com -13 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

So he went with Musk, the biggest cancer we have, a known entity for at least a decade?

Mmm, 'kay.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 7 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

So he went with Musk, the biggest cancer we have, a known entity for at least a decade?

Uhh, sorry, not sure what timeline you're referring to, but Musk was being compared to Tony Stark up until about 2022. He was a weird and eccentric douche, but hadn't gone right-wing MAGA evil yet. Tesla was on top and it was not controversial (to most centre-left) to have one. In fact it was a progressive statement until recently. Plus SpaceX was fucking rocking it and that would have been important to Mark Kelly.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

This is Elon in 2018 showing his butt

His hyperloop bullshit started around 2012-2013 and he admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that the Hyperloop proposal was only intended to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California.

He had no plans to develop it at the time, it was just a tool, like him

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

This is Elon in 2018 showing his butt

Yes, he was a douche, asshole, fucknut, etc. Sorry I thoight I had mentioned the 2018 thing in my comment but must have forgotten. That, to me, was the point where he really started his downward slide. It's certainly an inflection point where people who thought he was a genius started to get the picture that he wasnt. But that didn't make him the biggest cancer we have. That was mid-Trump v1 for fuck's sake. Plus that was 7 years ago, not a decade.

His hyperloop bullshit started around 2012-2013 and he admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that the Hyperloop proposal was only intended to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California.

And we only learned that he said that in 2021 or 2022 or something like that!

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

It was obvious. He never had a product, never had shit, and went after the high-speed rail contract specifically.

Here's a Bloomberg article from 2013 that shows many people back then knew exactly what Musk was doing.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-08-13/california-s-bullet-train-builders-to-elon-musk-and-his-hyperloop-best-of-luck

BUT, I'm done doing everyone's homework for them. Think what you like.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Lol, do your own homework and stop revising history based on what we know now. Your new link doesn't say shit about musk's intentions, just that some people said he was out-to-lunch. That does not show him being the biggest cancer. There have been plenty of times people said what he was trying to do was impossible, for example, landing rockets.

I didn't say and I'm not arguing that he had a product in the hyperloop and I'm certainly not defending him. He's done plenty of shitty shit we haven't even talked about (ahem, astrophotography). I'm defending Mark Kelly's latest action from your holier-than-thou bullshit. There are plenty of articles talking about the change in Musk in the last three years to become hateful and right-leaning.

Before that he was publicly calling out Trump and defending things like the Paris agreement. Tesla had pushed the all-electric vehicle to being what it is today and even if it wasn't all him, his backing/money certainly helped and he was the face of that. SpaceX changed spaceflight as we know it. Starlink was creating a whole new way for people to access the internet (again, not defending him, I know the other side of this one, but it was becoming and has become a very important thing to a lot of people). There was the big power reserve plant in Australia 2017/2018. I think it was around 2021 that things started to fall apart publicly for the solar roof stuff, but before that there was a lot of hope around it.

Just because you hated musk for however long you've hated him, it doesn't mean everyone could have predicted what's going on now. You want us to say you were right? Fine, assuming you've been saying for 10 years that he's the biggest cancer, good on ya. You got it right.

But if you had said that even four years ago (like when Mark Kelly bought his Tesla), there would have been a lot of people jumping on you with all the great things he's pushed forward, despite being a weird-ass douchebag who also did many shitty things.

So instead of focusing on calling out Mark Kelly for his mistake 4 years ago, how about saying, good, at least someone is taking an action, publicly, loudly, however small, against what's going on now. There are plenty of them that are just sitting back and watching, focus your ire on them. Stick together and give the ones who are fighting a boost instead of trying to kick them back down because of some perceived iniquity in the past.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Tesla was (and remained) a class signal, a tag for rich people.

It was never a Prius.

Hence all the self-driving technology and cyber truck and all that other bullshit, trying to make it seem "elite" and add value to a deeply flawed product. Let's not forget that the cyber truck trunk will cut your finger off easily, maybe your whole hand, and any Tesla will gladly seal you inside its compartment in an accident and wait for you to burn to a cinder. No government outcry, maybe because he's the world's richest man?

But hey, you defend Tesla all you like. I'll let the Tesla motors club talk about their own product. And I quote: "...if you’re the type that prefaces sentences and expectations with 'if I’m spending $100k on a car you damn well bet...' ... you’re less likely to be satisfied.'

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/fit-and-finish-issues.214005/

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 7 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

According to the article he's had it since at least 2021. If you're not paying attention to Musk (like, you know, the vast majority of people) you wouldn't think anything of Musk in 2021. And in the first place were there other strong players in the EV market in 2021?

[–] invertedspear@lemm.ee 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

In 21 you could have gotten some of the first Ford Mustang MachEs to come off the line, if you were lucky. Chevy was doing ok with the bolt, but I’ve never personally liked the style of the bolt. Leafs were another OK model specifically for commuting, but IIRC Kelly lives in Tucson and if he was making regular trips to Phoenix a leaf wouldn’t have cut it. Polestar was available, but relatively unknown. And I think a few luxury brands had EVs at that point. So yes there were other EV players, but “strong” is a subjective term, unless you were doing a fair amount of research you likely wouldn’t have known about them.

[–] wolfpack86@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Only two of what you mentioned are American brands, which is probably pretty relevant for a Senator to consider.

[–] jhymesba@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, Musk didn't go full Trumpet until roughly 2023, though signs of his shittery were apparent even in '21 if you paid any attention at all. The whole "pedoguy" thing happened in 2018. But yes, most people wouldn't have known about that in the torrent of news that came out in between 2018 and 2021.

I'm just glad that today, swastikars are a whole lot less desirable than Teslas were in '21. :)

[+] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com -8 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Most people? We are talking about an active politician. He was aware. Musk bought Twitter in April 2022, but he was being a full-on turd way before that.

Sorry, I noticed it was the guy before you (@NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io ) who said that a Democratic Senator and astronaut wouldn't know Musk was a scumbag.

Riiiiiight.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Most people? We are talking about an active politician.

Why the hell would an active politician care about 2021 Musk? The guy is a senator he likely had better things to worry about. And in the first place, why are you assuming he bought it in 2021? He had already bought it by 2021, but it could easily be from even before that. And again, were there any good alternatives in the EV market?

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Do you hear yourself?

Whatever - Hey, you're completely right, you win the argument. He HAD to buy that Tesla. He was too busy engaging in politics to notice the world's richest man becoming a huge right-wing influencer!

I wish he was here right now so I could apologize to him personally for criticizing him buying that piece of shit fad car back in the day.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

... Yikes. You do not handle having your preconceptions challenged at all gracefully, and it really damages the credibility of any support you lend to a movement when you behave like this.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 hours ago

Well you're right. I have terrible people skills. I become aggressive when I perceive myself (or my views) being attacked. I have a lot of problems making myself understood, online and in real life.

Your assessment of my personality is spot on. I am in therapy. Should I just hide away and never engage because sometimes I get wrapped around the axle? Shit, I don't know.

I'm sorry everyone. I know not what I do. I will not speak on this thread again.