Elon Musk has established himself in the first hours of the Trump transition as a powerful advisor and guardian with broad influence.
The billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago as he spent the last few days weighing in on a contested race to determine control of the Senate leadership.
He is also wading into the debate about reshaping the bureaucracy and allowing lawmakers to bypass traditional paths to confirming Trump’s Cabinet appointments.
And he has been seen chatting at a dinner alongside incoming first lady Melania in Palm Beach and spending time with Trump’s numerous grandchildren.
The use of its X platform – a vast online presence capable of influencing politics around the world – is just one part of its growing political power.
He has been seen repeatedly at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the election and thanked him on stage on election night.
He even joined Trump on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk intervened in the Senate leadership race, dined with Donald and Melania Trump and is playing a role in the Trump transition.
He threw his support behind Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the candidate most aligned with Trump in the battle to lead the new Republican-led Senate, now that Trump’s occasional antagonist, Mitch McConnell, is resigning.
Musk’s X platform has been in complacency mode, after Musk used it to help propel Trump to victory, even offering him up for a broadcast interview.
‘You are the media; the voice of the people,” account X posted, and its billionaire owner reposted and amplified the message to his millions of followers.
Trump first floated an internal role for Musk during a speech in New York in September.
It was unusual at the time and came before Musk poured at least $119 million into Trump’s race and campaign across Pennsylvania.
“I will create a government efficiency commission charged with conducting a comprehensive financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” Trump promised.
“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises,” the Tesla and Space X boss wrote in response on X. “No pay, no title, no recognition needed.”
That role, while important to the budget of a federal workforce preparing for a second Trump term, now seems like a mere sideline for Musk, whose corporate achievements Trump recounted at nearly every campaign event in the final weeks of the election. Campaign.
Staying within the corners of efficiency and staffing, there was a chance it would be little more than another “Reinventing Government” commission or a Blue Ribbon panel.
Now, Musk is weighing in not only on who should serve in government, but also on the power of the executive and the Senate. “We have to protect our geniuses, we don’t have that many,” Trump said during his election night speech, greeting the billionaire who jumped on stage during his second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
On Sunday, Trump posted a loyalty test on Musk’s X platform amid a three-way race to chair the Senate Republican Conference and there for the Senate.
Musk has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago and appeared in an image posted by Kai Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump, Jr.
Musk jumped on stage at Trump’s second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania
Elon Musk has become close to Melania Trump, the two are seen with Musk’s son at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in October.
Musk gave a big endorsement Sunday in the three-way race for Senate GOP leadership.
‘Any Republican senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the US Senate must accept recess appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to confirm people in a timely manner. “Sometimes votes can take two years or more,” Trump wrote.
Musk chimed in with his own immediate response: “This is essential.” There is no other way.’
Channeling Trump, he wrote on the platform he bought for $44 billion: ‘Without recess appointments, it will take two years or more to confirm the new administration! This would make it impossible to implement the change demanded by the American people, which is absolutely unacceptable.’
This came despite Trump being able to confirm his nominees with Republican control of the Senate, even after a Supreme Court ruling restricted opportunities to use the fast-track process.
He set up a new loyalty challenge with the potential Senate leaders, and all three immediately obeyed.
At times, Musk’s role has taken on elements of a lower-level communications official.
‘Congratulations to @RealTomHomanon for having the responsibility of enforcing our borders!’ he wrote, shortly after Trump appointed the former ICE official as “czar” in charge of deportations and the border along with air, sea and border security.
But his posts also reveal his role in shaping who joins the administration, amid the long-held axiom that personnel is power.
‘A group of small government revolutionaries will save our nation. It is the only way,” wrote Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman and former presidential candidate who supported Trump.
‘Absolutely!’ Musk responded. “It would be interesting to hear recommendations on roles in the new administration for the President to consider.”