A Nebraska Republican who endorsed President Donald Trump in the election turned on Elon Musk on Monday night over Musk's remarks regarding a Senate Democrat.
Musk called Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) a "traitor" after Kelly shared details of his trip to Ukraine in a post on X.
"Just left Ukraine," Kelly wrote. "What I saw proved to me we can't give up on the Ukrainian people. Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine's security and can't be a giveaway to Putin."
Hours later, Musk replied with a single sentence: "You are a traitor."
"Traitor?" Kelly shot back on Monday. "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."
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Rep. Don Bacon, (R-NE) told CNN's Manu Raju on Monday night that Musk's comments were inappropriate.
"It's not decent, it’s not right," Bacon said, according to Raju. "I don't agree with Senator Kelly on some things, but we don’t call each other a traitor, and I think it reflects bad on the White House."
When asked why he thinks it reflects poorly on Trump's White House, Bacon replied: “Because he represents the White House when he says that. And also going after the foreign minister of Poland, I don’t think it’s right either. I respect Elon and all that he’s done, but call people traitors and names that are foreign leaders….
“His job was to do an audit of what we’re spending on, I think we should have more discussion for when we fire people, cut people, know what the consequences are, but it doesn’t reflect well on our country when this goes on,” Bacon said.
Bacon's response comes after he stepped up his criticism of the Trump administration on Monday, asking why Musk attacked Poland, a U.S. ally.
"Why is a White House official, that's not even elected, why is that person belittling the Polish foreign minister? It's not appropriate. It's not right. We need more discipline in the White House," said Bacon.
"Poland is our friend," he continued. "If you've got heartburn with them, get them on the phone and talk to them. But stop the public bashing of our friends. In a world that's where we have real threats out there with China, Russia, and Iran. So, I didn't like what I saw. I thought we could be better."
