“I can’t get him out of here.” Donald Trump joked this Thursday at an event at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach (Florida) about how the richest man in the world has become his shadow. Elon Musk, at a rally with Trump; Elon Musk, at another rally accompanying Melania Trump; Elon Musk, at the electoral victory celebration party; Elon Musk, on the phone in the president-elect’s first call with Volodymyr Zelensky; Elon Musk singing with tenor Chris Macchio; Elon Musk, accompanying Trump on the plane on which he went to Washington to meet with Joe Biden at the White House; Elon Musk, at the meeting of the Republican group of the House of Representatives; Elon Musk, meeting with Iranian diplomats; Elon Musk, with Javier Milei and Trump himself at Mar-a-Lago. Elon Musk… everywhere.
“I’m happy to be the first friend!” Musk tweeted when they gave her that kind of protocol title, similar to that of first lady. “Elon reaches uncle status,” joked Kai Trump, granddaughter of the president-elect. The billionaire posed with his son X for Trump’s family photo celebrating the election victory. “Elon, you have to take a photo with your boy. We have to put Elon with his boy. That beautiful, perfect boy,” Trump is heard inviting his ally in the videos that captured the moment.
For his multi-million dollar fortune of more than $300 billion, for his dominance of the social network X has undoubtedly become the most powerful private citizen in the United States.
Musk has spent most of his time at Mar-a-Lago since the election. His private plane landed at the nearby West Palm Beach airport on November 5 and was there for about 24 hours, according to the @ElonJet account on Bluesky, which uses publicly available flight data. He jet He took off from West Palm Beach last Wednesday and headed to Austin, Texas, where Musk has a home, but returned on Friday and stayed there until Wednesday. That day, the magnate traveled to Washington aboard Trump’s plane, although he was followed by his own aircraft, which returned to Florida in the afternoon. In Washington, in the meeting with congressmen, the Republican also joked about the fact that the businessman has become his shadow: “Elon is not going home. “I can’t get rid of him.”
The president-elect praised him at that meeting, in which he received a standing ovation from the congressmen, some of whom took photos with him. In his appearances in the dining room of the Mar-a-Lago club, Musk has also been received with a hubbub similar to that caused by Trump.
During these days when he has barely separated from Trump, Musk has been giving his opinion on everything. From the policies to be followed, from the appointments, from foreign relations… to the point that some American media point out that their role has been more active than that of the formal heads of the power transition process, Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon. His prominence has aroused some misgivings – or perhaps outright jealousy – among other more established Trump allies.
Musk himself takes part of the credit for the Republican’s victory, who surpassed Democrat Kamala Harris in the seven decisive states and also won the popular vote by a difference of between two and three million votes (just under two points). He contributed around $200 million to the Republican campaign through his America PAC organization, gave solo rallies in Pennsylvania and did not stop making Trumpist propaganda from his social network. Not only because he has 205 million followers, but because he uses the algorithm to promote the dissemination of his messages and those of his organization, and because he has given a voice to ultra-conservative activists.
Musk has been one of the unexpected protagonists of the presidential campaign. Already in May it was learned that Trump was counting on him for his team if he won the elections. Later, the candidate himself confirmed that he would entrust him with a “drastic” reform of the Administration if he were elected. Even at Tesla’s June shareholder meeting, Musk talked about his relationship with the Republican, and how he sometimes called him. “He calls me for no reason. “I don’t know why, but it does,” he said.
Musk is perceived as so powerful that some of the brands that gave up advertising on his social network due to the rise of hate speech are returning to the fold in an apparent attempt to curry favor with their owner. “I just want to say that we are very grateful that the big brands are advertising again on our platform,” Musk tweeted, commenting on information that indicated that IBM, Disney, Comcast, Discovery, Warner Bros and Lionsgate had returned to insert advertising after a long hiatus. drought.
Musk had already named the position he wanted to fill. “We need the Department of Government Efficiency,” he said in October at a rally in Pennsylvania, underlining its acronym, DOGE, a nod to Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency derived from bitcoin that uses a dog as a pet and that he sponsors. “DOGE on a bronze plaque. “It’s going to be incredible,” he added.
Trump announced this week that the head of the DOGE will not only be Elon Musk, but also the former Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who did not resist the first assault in that race. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, dramatically reduce overregulation, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies,” Trump said when announcing the appointment.
In reality, the DOGE is not a Department of the Administration nor will it be. For now it barely goes beyond a mere theoretical construction. It is not entirely clear how it will work or with what legal coverage. Trump only noted that he will “partner” with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget. Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy will have to be confirmed by the Senate, since they will not hold any position. This frees them from any regime of responsibilities, but does not eliminate conflicts of interest.
The objective of avoiding excessive regulations and cutting the power of government agencies can favor the billionaire in Tesla for the development of its autonomous cars (where it has had clashes with the current authorities), in SpaceX for the launch of its rockets, in xAI for the development of artificial intelligence and at Neuralink for clinical trials of computer implants in the brain.
drastic cuts
Musk has set out to recruit volunteers to help him in the immense task of scrutinizing each Administration item. He has even said that two of the federal government’s $6.7 trillion in public spending could be cut, but without explaining how. Most of it is debt interest (which cannot be cut), military spending (which Trump has said he wants to increase) and recognized benefits (such as social security and healthcare, which the president-elect promised during the campaign to respect). Sure, you’ll find some splurge here and there, but cutting spending by almost a third is much easier said than done.
Those who join Musk and Ramaswamy will have a tedious and unpaid job, as they themselves have acknowledged. Still, they have asked for candidates. “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us on DOGE. We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need high-IQ revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours a week on cost reduction. If this is you, send your resume by direct message to this account. Elon and Vivek will select 1% of the candidates,” the DOGE account tweeted.
The task entrusted to the two billionaires has a fixed date: July 4, 2026, the day of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States. It remains to be seen if that kind of honeymoon between the future president and the richest man in the world still lasts by then or if two roosters in the same pen end up fighting.
