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.

  • MedicsOfAnarchy@lemmy.world
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    4 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
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    5 hours ago

    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.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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      3 hours ago

      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
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        15 minutes 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.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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      4 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.

  • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    43 minutes ago

    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.

        • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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          2 hours ago

          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
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            1 hour ago

            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
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              46 minutes ago

              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
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            49 minutes 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
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          4 hours ago

          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
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            24 minutes ago

            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.

          • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            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
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              3 hours ago

              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
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                3 hours ago

                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
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                  2 hours ago

                  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.