WASHINGTON – For a man who loves the spotlight, Donald Trump has been conspicuously out of view since his triumph in last week's presidential election.
There have been no rallies, no press conferences, no speeches. Instead, Trump has spent most of his first week as president-elect behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, where he's working the phones, reconnecting with foreign leaders and building his new administration.
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Trump is hardly in seclusion. He's surrounded by advisers, friends and paying members of his club, who weigh in with advice as he selects people for top government jobs. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, whose companies have billions of dollars of federal contracts, has been a constant presence. Some see Musk as the second-most influential figure in Trump's immediate orbit after his campaign chief-turned-incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
On Tuesday evening, Trump announced that Musk would help lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” — essentially an independent advisory panel — where he could recommend ways to “drive out the massive waste and fraud.”
“This will send shockwaves through the system," said a statement from Musk, who will work with Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who ran for president himself.
Trump is expected to return to public view on Wednesday, when he goes to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden and visits Capitol Hill to consult with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican legislators. Overall, Trump is laying the groundwork for his second presidency at a much faster clip than his first.
Trump is also expected to meet with Republicans on Capitol Hill as they prepare for his day one priorities in a potentially unified government with a sweep of GOP power in Washington.
That doesn’t mean the private process lacks the cutthroat atmosphere that Trump has long fostered within his orbit. A former White House official still close to Trump compared the situation at Mar-a-Lago to the Game of Thrones drama series, and another former Trump official also described chaotic jockeying for jobs. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.
Eight years ago, when Trump pulled off a shocking victory over Hillary Clinton, he wasn't out of sight for long. He visited President Barack Obama at the White House two days after the election, then met with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
“We’re going to move very strongly on immigration,” he said at the time. “We will move very strongly on health care. And we’re looking at jobs. Big league jobs.”
Back in New York, back then, Trump Tower was transformed into the backdrop for a new political reality show. The media camped out in the lobby of Trump's namesake skyscraper to see who was coming and going. Sometimes Trump would ride the elevator down to offer an update or show off a guest.
In one notable moment that December, the rapper then known as Kanye West emerged with Trump, who said the two had “been friends for a long time.” Asked what they had discussed, Trump replied: “Life. We discussed life." Trump later came under intense criticism in 2022 for dining with Ye and a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.
Eight years ago, Trump also held transition meetings in New Jersey at his Bedminster golf course, where the media assembled many days for a procession of candidates before the assembled cameras.
Some, like future Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, ended up with job offers. Others, like Mitt Romney, did not. After the Romney meeting, the two walked out together and shook hands next to an American flag. Trump flashed a quick thumbs-up and said it “went great.”
The current arrangement is far different. There's no public access to Mar-a-Lago, which appears to be under even tighter security than it was in the immediate aftermath of two assassination attempts targeting Trump.
The roundabout in front of the property's entrance is fully barricaded, and vehicles from the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office and Secret Service were spotted standing guard, along with unmarked police cars, black vans and a golf cart on a recent afternoon.
Instead, Trump has announced his picks in statements and posts on his Truth Social site, while his comings and goings have been captured on social media by club members and their guests, who, as always, have near-unfettered access.
In one video, he's seen dancing to “YMCA” on the club's packed patio. In another, he and his wife, Melania, are cheered as they arrive for dinner. They were also spotted sitting together at a table with Musk.
Trump is known to have left Mar-a-Lago only once since the election, to visit another one of his properties. On Sunday, he returned to his nearby golf course — the same course where an eagle-eyed Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a gun pointing through the property's fence, thwarting a potential shooting — to play with his teenage granddaughter, Kai.
“Sundays with Grandpa," she posted on Instagram. Other photos from that day show Trump in a golf cart, wearing a white golf shirt, and later sitting in a burgundy leather chair in the club's restaurant next to Kai while someone leans in for a conversation.
Musk was also spotted at the course, where he was introduced to members. Kai posted a photo of her posing with Musk and his young son, saying that Trump was “achieving uncle status.”
Indeed, Musk has sometimes appeared to be a member of the family. On election night, he was spotted giving his son a piggyback ride through a Mar-a-Lago ballroom and joined a family photo of the president-elect with his children and grandchildren.
Since then, he's tried to put his imprint on every subject facing the new administration, according to people familiar with his efforts, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the dynamic.
His attempts at influence extend to issues beyond his expertise, like border security. In addition, Musk has suggested that he could find more than $2 trillion in savings from the federal budget — nearly a third of total annual spending.
Trump also added Musk to a post-election call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who hopes the United States will continue the flow of military assistance to fend off Russia's invasion. Trump and Musk have both expressed skepticism about supporting Ukraine, and Trump often speaks admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has vowed to end the war before Inauguration Day.
Positions in the coming Trump administration are being offered far more quickly now than they were the first time around. In 2016, Trump announced his senior leadership team, including chief of staff, the Sunday after the election. But he waited 10 days for his first Cabinet appointment
This time, Trump swiftly named Wiles as his chief of staff. He's also chosen Stephen Miller, an anti-immigration firebrand, as a policy adviser, and Tom Homan as his "border czar." Trump has tapped New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as his ambassador to the United Nations and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to run the Environmental Protection Agency. He announced a flurry of additional personnel choices on Tuesday, including former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary.
The competition for jobs this year has been intense. While Trump's 2016 election was a surprise, this time allies have spent four years pulling together personnel lists and policy proposals. Candidates are being represented by PR agencies and lobbyists. One potential Cabinet pick hired consultants to try to bolster his image.
While Trump had said he already had people in mind for various roles, Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump's transition team in charge of personnel, previously told The Associated Press that he hadn't discussed any recommendations with Trump before his win because the president-elect is notoriously superstitious.
“What I do is I go and find the greatest candidates for the role. So each role will have, let’s say, eight amazing candidates — fully vetted, fully capable of Senate confirmation, OK?” he said. “Then he’ll start interviewing and he’ll start considering. That’s up to him, right? He’s the chooser.”
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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Stephany Matat in Palm Beach, Florida contributed to this report.