The New York Times reports:

In nearly every meeting that President-elect Donald J. Trump holds at Mar-a-Lago, alongside him is someone who has been elected to nothing, nominated to nothing and, only a few months ago, had no meaningful relationship with him.

Elon Musk.

The world’s richest person has ascended to a position of extraordinary, unofficial influence in Mr. Trump’s transition process, playing a role that makes him indisputably America’s most powerful private citizen. He has sat in on nearly every job interview with the Trump team and bonded with the Trump family, and he is trying to install his Silicon Valley friends in plum positions in the next administration.

Mr. Trump announced on Tuesday that Mr. Musk would help lead what he called the Department of Government Efficiency, a new body to “dismantle government bureaucracy.” But Mr. Musk’s true influence on the Trump transition effort goes well beyond that posting.

Mr. Musk has assumed an almost mythical aura in Mr. Trump’s inner circle. At Mar-a-Lago one recent evening, he walked into the dining room about 30 minutes after the president-elect did and received a similar standing ovation, according to two people who saw him enter.

Mr. Musk, often with his 4-year-old son X on his lap, has spent most of the last week at Mar-a-Lago, joining not just interviews but almost every meeting and many meals that Mr. Trump has had. He briefly shuttled back to Austin, Texas, where he has a $35 million compound, before returning on Friday, where he ate in Mar-a-Lago’s dining room and on its patio, roamed the gift shop and spent time on the golf course — all alongside the president-elect.

“I’m happy to be the first buddy!” he replied to a social-media follower this weekend.

This article is based on roughly a dozen interviews with Republican donors, politicians and friends of Mr. Musk, many of whom insisted on anonymity to talk about private conversations.

Publicly, over just the first week of the transition, Mr. Musk has endorsed Senator Rick Scott of Florida to be the next Senate majority leader; urged Republican senators to embrace recess appointments for Mr. Trump; suggested that all government employees should submit a “weekly email of accomplishments”; called for the Department of Education to be closed; solicited recommendations for new administration roles that he could bring to Mr. Trump; wondered if Canada was “dying”; and posted plenty of Trump-themed memes.

Behind the scenes, Mr. Musk’s behavior has been far more hands-on than even some of his allies expected. His role, in the eyes of some Trump aides, even outstrips that of Howard Lutnick and Linda E. McMahon, the two formally appointed leaders of the Trump transition.

He has sat in on calls with foreign leaders, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and plans to meet in person this week with President Javier Milei of Argentina when Mr. Milei visits Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Musk has also attended at least one national security meeting with Mr. Trump alongside the likes of Stephen Miller, a top aide, and Donald Trump Jr., according to a person briefed on the meeting.

On Wednesday, Mr. Musk is expected to accompany Mr. Trump to a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill, according to a person close to the president-elect. Mr. Musk is flying aboard Mr. Trump’s plane to Washington, the person said.

Mr. Musk is generally not introducing new names for specific roles, according to people familiar with the process, typically evaluating only people whom the Trump transition team is already considering.

He has voiced support for Mr. Trump’s decision not to appoint Mike Pompeo or Nikki Haley to a senior national security position, although he unsuccessfully expressed concern about giving Representative Elise Stefanik of New York a role that would take her out of Congress. (She has been offered the post of United Nations ambassador.)

Mr. Musk also has a good relationship with Brendan Carr, the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, who is seen as a front-runner to be the body’s next chairman. The billionaire has recently voiced support for Mr. Carr in private conversations at Mar-a-Lago.

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump spokeswoman, told The New York Times that Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump were “great friends and brilliant leaders working together to Make America Great Again.”

On a personal level, Mr. Trump seems to be taken with Mr. Musk, adopting him as a quasi member of the family. A photograph posted on social media by Tiffany Trump, Mr. Trump’s youngest daughter, featured the entire family, including grandchildren, at Mar-a-Lago with the message “Dad, we are so proud of you!”

Conspicuously, Mr. Musk was standing right in the mix, holding his son X.

“Elon, get in the picture with your boy,” Mr. Trump told him, according to a video of the moment posted online. “We have to get Elon with his boy — his gorgeous, perfect boy.”

On Sunday, Mr. Trump’s eldest grandchild, Kai Trump, put it a little more bluntly with a photo from the golf course: “Elon achieving uncle status.” [Continue reading…]