Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a prominent billionaire backer of Republicans in recent years, has moved in to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
According to a report by the New York Times, Musk lives in a $2,000 a night cottage at the resort, giving him unprecedented access to Trump. Mar-a-Lago serves as President Trump’s winter home, with Trump typically spending summers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey and the White House.
Musk’s proximity to Trump allows him to wield particular influence over the ongoing Trump transition, with several Musk allies appointed to key administration positions. Among the most recent are David Sacks, who was appointed White House AI & Crypto Czar, and Sriram Krishnan, who will serve as White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, both prominent venture capitalists in the tech sector.
Krishnan’s appointment provoked a backlash from many of Trump’s more nationalist supporters, with Laura Loomer criticizing Krishnan’s past support for H-1B visas. However, both Musk and DOGE Co-Chair Vivek Ramaswamy came out firmly in support of increased high-skilled visas, and later received Trump’s backing for their position in an interview with the New York Post.
The dispute reflected ongoing struggles between a more tech-friendly libertarian wing of the Trump administration, led by Musk, and more radical nationalists, such as former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who see high-skilled visas as reducing the wages of American workers. Musk’s increased access to Trump may give him an advantage over rivals that have less physical proximity to the President-elect.
