Here’s Where Elon Musk Has Spent His Time Since the Election

since Donald Trump He won the November election Elon Musk He was in almost constant motion, moving between Mar-a-Lago and its various headquarters, with other stops in between. Not only the billionaire industrial giant has appeared As one of Trump’s most influential supportersBut also as a senior adviser helping to shape what a second Trump term will look like over the next four years.

Trump is said to listen to the last person who advised him on a particular topic. Musk may be the first person to solve this problem: by rarely leaving Trump’s side. Since Trump’s victory, Musk has gone out to support his Cabinet appointees in X, Join meetings with world leaders and diplomatsAnd even led Opposition to a temporary spending bill passed in December. This massive involvement earned him the nickname “President Musk.” Democrats Like Connecticut State Representative Rosa DeLauro.

It appears that Musk has also made Mar-a-Lago his unofficial home. He has reportedly settled into the luxury Banyan Cottage resort– A $2,000-per-night suite inside Trump’s expansive Palm Beach complex. The exclusive retreat has brought Musk closer to Trump during the transition, as well as being a revolving door for political power players who traveled to Mar-a-Lago to break bread with Trump and his family before the inauguration.

In the air

Musk has been doing all this while leading several business ventures, from… SpaceX to Tesla to Neuralink to Newsweek analysis. Since the election, the majority of those flights have been to one destination: Palm Beach, Florida.

Review by Newsweek Musk’s flight schedules shared by ElonJetTracker, a service that uses social media to track the real-time movements of Musk’s private jets, reveal at least 17 visits to Palm Beach since November. Its aircraft will make a total of 31 flights to and from Palm Beach International Airport throughout 2024.

It is still unclear whether Musk was personally on all those flights. He has occasionally joined Trump on his private plane, such as during their joint trip to Washington, D.C. In November 2024 To meet republican Legislators. Some of the trips may also have taken off without him, and Musk’s reasons for taking some of those trips likely involved personal or business matters unrelated to his work with the president.

Many of Musk’s plane trips coincide with events in which Musk and Trump have been photographed together. Musk Attended Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lagojoined Trump and J.D. Vance for the traditional Army-Navy football game in Maryland and celebrated New Year’s Eve alongside the Trump family at Mar-a-Lago.

One thing is more certain: The world’s richest man appears to have inserted himself into the president’s personal and political orbit, where his stay at the Mar-a-Lago resort has given him a front-row seat to power. His presence has allowed him to advise Trump on personnel, join phone calls with international leaders, and even disrupt high-level meetings. This was the case with Musk It says join Dinner at Mar-a-Lago hosted by Trump Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

“Every time I go to Mar-a-Lago, he’s there,” Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said in a recent interview. New York Post In it, she admitted that she jokingly called Musk her “first friend.”

Even Trump himself has done so He joked about itSaying to a group from home Republicans In November: “Elon is not coming home. “I can’t get rid of it – at least not until I don’t like it.”

In addition to Musk’s frequent visits to Florida, Musk’s planes have made stops at several locations related to his business. Notable destinations included Hawthorne, California, and Brownsville, Texas, both near SpaceX’s main facilities.

On the floor

Musk’s $250 million contribution to Trump’s campaign — specifically his successful Pennsylvania voting campaigns — has cemented his role as an influential political force working on Trump’s behalf. His explicit call for corporate deregulation and spending cuts And the value of the H-1B work visa program It appears to align with his business interests, even as some of these positions, such as his support for H-1B, have raised tension within Trump’s base.

In addition to his growing political footprint, Musk is set to lead a government-wide cost-cutting project known as Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It was It is said Searching for office space in the West Wing to manage DOGE’s business. Despite the name, DOGE is not a government agency but an outside advisory body charged with providing guidance to the White House.

Musk’s growing influence is said to rub some in Trump world the wrong way, along with people like him Steve BannonTrump’s former chief strategist, interrogation Musk’s motives and his access to the president.

Musk was in attendance at Trump’s inauguration on Monday, where he was seated alongside fellow tech giants like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, dead‘s Mark Zuckerberg. For someone who once claimed he didn’t care much about politics, Musk’s transformation into a power broker in D.C. signals a remarkable shift — a pivot that could have a major impact over the next four years — provided Trump doesn’t do it. exhaustion Of his antics, as happened to others who came on board with a splash during his first term in office.