TECH tycoon Elon Musk is reportedly living in a luxury cottage on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate so he can be near to the President-elect at all times.
The pair forged a close alliance throughout Trump’s campaign – with Musk now apparently sleeping just a few hundred feet away from the main house.
Living on the grounds of Trump’s impressive Florida bolthole has given Tesla founder Musk easy access to the MAGA man, sources told The New York Times.
And despite the $2,000 per night price tag, Musk may not be paying Trump anything at all for the luxurious rental.
Despite reports of a rift in the new MAGA camp – the pair appear to be closer than ever.
Musk can drop in spontaneously at important dinners – including a recent one Trump had with Musk’s Silicon Valley rival – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
He is living in the Banyan cottage, party of a building Trump converted into a members-only club on the vast estate in the 1990s.
After spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars bankrolling Trump’s efforts to secure the White House, Musk has been rewarded with a ticket into the most exclusive of meetings.
He has reportedly sat in on meetings with Trump’s staff in the Mar-a-Lago Teahouse, as well as phone calls with foreign leaders.
The pair have spent hours together in Trump’s own office.
Even Musk’s own employees have been brought in the assist with the transition, vetting candidates for senior roles in the upcoming Republican administration.
They’ve carried out interviews at the Trump transition headquarters in West Palm Beach.
Vice President to-be JD Vance has also been staying in one of the cottages at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has boasted about his guest – claiming he is “renting” one of the homes.
While Banyan has historically gone for some $2,000 a night – it is unclear how much Musk is paying, if anything at all.
He has been living there since Election Day, when Trump swept the polls with a landslide win against Kamala Harris.
A dad of 11 – Musk has been staying there with at least two of his kids and their nannies.
He is known to make requests for things like meals – outside of the kitchen’s normal working hours.
It comes after Musk threatened a “war like you’ve never seen” with MAGA republicans after defending visas for skilled foreigners.
He said he supported the H-1B visa – which gives highly educated immigrants the chance to work in the US for up to six years.
It marks Musk’s entry into a contentious debate that pits Trump’s tech advisors against tradition Republicans who want a hard line on all forms of immigration.
Musk’s co-chair in Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency -Vivek Ramaswamy, said American culture should be blamed for a need to hire foreign workers.
Ramaswamy wrote: “Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence.
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian [the top student in a class], will not produce the best engineers.”
Musk simply hit back “That pretty much sums it up. This was eye-opening”.
And Trump himself responded, telling the Post: “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favour of the visas. That’s why we have them.
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
By Harry Cole, Political Editor of The Sun
PEOPLE joked about Elon Musk joining the Trump administration – and lo and behold, he’s actually done it.
He’s not been given a formal government job – and won’t be in the White House – but he’s setting up the Department of Government Efficiency.
That is DOGE for short – and internet fans will know this is a small fluffy dog meme, of which Musk is a fan.
Again, everyone thought he was joking about the name – and now he’s gone and done it.
Musk will lead this efficiency drive, looking at where government savings can be made.
He will be applying the sort of private sector efficiency that he is so famed for at Tesla and at SpaceX.
This is a guy who puts reusable rockets in the air and grabs them out of the sky with giant chopsticks.
He knows what he is talking about.
Left-wing media have sneered at Musk since he backed Trump as they see the Republican as toxic.
But Musk is clearly an incredibly intelligent guy who is going to devote his time and resources to the United States.
It is clear Trump is moving fast – and he is breaking things.
This is his second term and don’t forget he can’t be reelected again, he’s only got one more chance to do things in a very different way.
When he came into office in 2016, there was a bit of a rush to make lots of appointments.
He is the first to admit he chose some bad bad ones.
But this time around it’s going to be a very different presidency – starting with bringing in Musk.
Trump is sending a signal: “Business as usual is over.”
