Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Elon Musk got into an online back-and-forth last week, after Kelly posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about his recent trip to Ukraine and pushing for the U.S. to continue its support of that country. Musk, who owns X, replied, calling Kelly a traitor.
Phil Boas, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, said in writing that Musk did an enormous favor for the loyal opposition. Boas joined The Show to talk more about that, along with Elvia Díaz, the Republic’s editorial page editor, to discuss what got them thinking about how this back and forth might be a benefit to Senator Kelly.
Full conversation
PHIL BOAS: Well, I think it gives him a chance to really stand up for the party and stand against some of what the Trump administration calls “shock and awe” but what is really creating enormous chaos around the world with our allies, both in Europe and in Canada, Australia. And what looks like a serious turn in foreign policy that really needs to be challenged and questioned and debated in this country.
And Kelly, by going to Ukraine, has really managed to set himself up as one of the leading voices in the Democratic Party against what looks like a very haphazard foreign policy on the part of the Trump administration.
MARK BRODIE: So, Phil, do you then see — we’ve heard so much about Democrats kind of trying to figure out the best way to go forward now — is foreign policy, in your mind, maybe one of those paths?
BOAS: Well, foreign policy right now is a shambles. We have our European allies at the moment thinking that the Atlantic Alliance that carried us through World War II and through all the postwar years is burning right now and is coming to an end. And so, yeah. These are some big questions that need to be talked about and debated in the strongest sense.
It looks like Trump is winging foreign policy, and he is making enemies out of friends and friends out of people that ought to be our enemies, like Vladimir Putin, who in fact is an authoritarian and a tyrant.
BRODIE: Elvia, let me put the same question to you. As Democrats have sort of been trying to figure out what’s next for them and how to maybe win back some of the voters they lost in last year’s election, do you see foreign policy as a viable path to do that?
ELVIA DÍAZ: Well, it is one of the viable paths for the Democrats to stand up to Donald Trump. But I don’t think that is what is going to be resonating with the American people, especially with the Democrats and independents, and everyone else in between who voted for other than Donald Trump, the not-MAGA people.
And I think that’s why we’re talking about Mark Kelly, because he was able to stand up to Elon Musk go into this back and forth, because I think the American people, a good chunk of it, are incredibly exasperated with their inability or little recourse to do anything, anything really to stop Donald Trump and foreign policy and and dismantling the federal government and dismantling all the programs and agencies that have supported this country for decades and for generations.
So I think Kelly is the right person to talk about foreign policy, but it’s here in the United States, it’s national politics, it’s local politics is what people are feeling right now that Democrats really need to stand up to Donald Trump.
And they lost. There’s very little that they can do. If foreign policy is a way to do it, yeah, sure. I welcome that.
BRODIE: Well, Elvia, it’s interesting because there have been polls that suggest that voters have a less positive view of, for example, Elon Musk than President Trump. So I wonder if this is maybe a way for Democrats to sort of, by proxy, go after the president by going after Elon Musk and not necessarily just sort of the DOGE firings and layoffs that he’s doing, but also just some of the other comments and statements he’s making.
DÍAZ: Well, yes. Musk calling Sen. Kelly a traitor just by going to Ukraine, just how Phil described it, that is just insane. So people have a way of identifying that, and getting rid of the Teslas are one way to complain about Musk. And Kelly himself got rid of his Tesla a few days ago, joining a growing movement of people just going after what clearly is the only thing that matters to Musk, which is money.
And if you remember, that’s why Donald Trump staged a huge infomercial for Musk in front of the White House to sell cars.
BRODIE: Phil, Mark Kelly’s profile nationally has obviously been raised. He was reportedly on a vice presidential shortlist for Kamala Harris last year. I wonder, what do you think this episode — and as Elvia mentioned, he made a kind of a big deal about getting rid of his Tesla over the last few days — what does all this do for Sen. Kelly’s profile and maybe stature, not just in Arizona but around the country?
BOAS: Well, judging from the mail that I’m getting — my piece ran in USA Today, and I have gotten so much mail that is so pro-Mark Kelly. I think the fact that he is a veteran, that he’s an astronaut, that he has served his country and put his life on the line in combat, that even today and in the Senate, he is pushing for America is to a steel itself, to improve its defense-industrial capacity, to start building up and to become strong. I think that’s a that is what the Democrats need to project.
This is somebody who loves America, loves this country, is widely admired in the way John McCain was admired because he had served. And Mark Kelly had every right to challenge Donald Trump’s foreign policy here. I think the Republicans and I think Musk, they were responding to an old tradition that politics stops at the water’s edge, meaning Americans should present a united front when it comes to international affairs.
But the Trump White House has forfeited that in the way they’ve run foreign policy.
BRODIE: Elvia, do you see Sen. Kelly as maybe a good voice for Democrats to follow in their attempts to sort of get back to where they want to be politically?
DÍAZ: I think Democrats will follow anyone who’s willing to stand up to Donald Trump right now because they’re so desperate. Anyone can feel it. But yes. He is a respected senator from Arizona. And absolutely, again, anyone that can stand up to Donald Trump is going to be welcome.
BRODIE: Phil, I wonder if in some ways, we talk about the concept of sort of unforced errors in politics. I wonder if you see Elon Musk calling Mark Kelly a traitor as sort of an unforced error for the Trump administration, maybe for national Republicans.
BOAS: That’s a huge blunder. And, I don’t even know if the Trump white House is capable of reining him in, but they need to because that was a huge mistake. And it’s only emboldened the opposition, and it’s given greater stature to Mark Kelly.
