If early indications hold, former GOP RINO Rep. Adam ā#fellaā Kinzinger is fitting into his role at CNN quite nicely. It still hasnāt made him any better at owning Elon Musk, however.
Kinzinger ā a prior member of the Democratsā sham Jan. 6 committee and newly minted analyst from the network everyone in Washington, D.C., could have guessed he would join without want of a rumor after he announced he wasnāt running in 2022 ā believes the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and Twitter owner is, to use Donald Trumpās parlance, a bad hombrĆ©.
The problem is that he doesnāt keep receipts. Nowhere was this more apparent than when he quote-tweeted an exchange that accused Musk of being a āRussian asset.ā
Suffice it to say, it didnāt end well for Mr. #fella.
Now, a bit of background: Musk has been using his Starlink satellite communication system to facilitate transmissions in war-torn Ukraine. However, heās set some limits on how Starlinkās capabilities can be used by Ukrainian forces.
This led to an exchange between Scott Kelly ā a former astronaut whose brother is Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly ā and Musk about whether Ukraine should be allowed access to Starlinkās full capabilities, despite what those capabilities are being used to accomplish.
In one particularly heartstring-tugging (but notably evidence-free) tweet, Kelly pleaded with Musk: āUkraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. Itās survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.ā
Musk shot back that Kelly was āsmart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.
āStarlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed. But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.ā
The issue at hand is that, according to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, āUkrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement, so we have to work on that at Starlink,ā CNBC reported.
While Shotwell said that SpaceX was āreally pleased to be able to provide Ukraine connectivity and help them in their fight for freedomā with Starlink, she emphasized the system āwas never intended to be weaponized,ā especially āon drones,ā which Ukrainian forces have reportedly been doing.
Itās a nuanced debate, one that doesnāt lead itself to people who have thoughts that only last 280 characters tops. This gentleman ā or āfella,ā because Mr. Kinzinger, for reasons unbeknownst to God or man, apparently has a fandom posse ā didnāt even have that much space to fill:
This got the attention of the chief ā#fellaā ā who didnāt call Musk a Russian asset, but also didnāt not call Musk a Russian asset. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
Non-#fella Twitter was considerably less amused, however:
Now, letās be clear: Elon Musk was under no obligation to help anyone in the Ukrainian conflict. He opened up his Starlink satellite system to facilitate critical communications between military personnel on the front lines, as well as other lines of communication in a country which had a distinct dearth of them.
What Musk did not sign on to, however, is using Starlink as a de facto military weapon. No matter what you think of Musk, his opinions or the consistency of his personal behavior, heās right here: Not only does inching the world closer to World War III fall under the purview of his obligation, itās diametrically opposed to it.
But then, Kinzinger doesnāt have to worry about facts anymore. Heās at CNN ā the one place where truth matters less than Congress. If George Santos is looking for a gig in two years time, heād do a lot worse than adding the hashtag ā#fellaā to his Twitter profile and hoping things work out like they did for good olā Adam.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
