How Elon Musk is pulling the strings of the incoming Trump administration as it prepares for the White House

Elon Musk has been establishing himself in the first hours of the Trump transition as a powerful advisor and gatekeeper whose influence extends far beyond the original ‘efficiency’ gig floated by the former president.

The world’s richest man has been spent the past days weighing in on a contested race to determine control of Senate leadership, promising a vast reshaping of the bureaucracy, promoting the executives ability to ram through appointments, soliciting resumes from a former presidential candidate, and chatting tableside with the former first lady.

That all came while using his X platform, a vast online presence capable of influencing politics around the world – which is only part of his expanding political power.

He has been spotted repeatedly at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the election and thanked him onstage election night, and even joined Trump on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He threw his support behind Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the most Trump-aligned candidate in the battle to lead the new Republican-led Senate, now that occasional Trump antagonist Mitch McConnell is stepping down.

Musk’s X platform has been in self-congratulation mode, after Musk used it to help power Trump to victory – even hosting him for a streamed interview. ‘you are the media; the voice of the people,’ the X account posted, with its multi-billionaire owner reposting and amplifying the message to his millions of followers.

Trump first floated an inside role for Musk during a New York speech in September. It was unusual at the time, and came before Musk would plow at least $119 million into the race and campaign for Trump across Pennsylvania.

‘I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,’ Trump promised.

‘I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises,” the Tesla and Space X boss wrote on X in response. ‘No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.’

That role, though important to the budget an federal workforce bracing itself for a second Trump term, is now looking like a mere sideline for Musk, whose corporate achievements Trump recounted in nearly every campaign rally during the last weeks of the campaign.

Staying within the corners of efficiency and personnel, it stood the chance of being little more than another ‘Reinventing Government’ commission or Blue Ribbon panel.

Now, Musk is weighing in not just on who should serve in government, but over the power of the executive and the Senate. ‘We have to protect our geniuses, we don’t have that many of them,’ Trump said during his election night speech, saluting the billionaire who jumped on stage during his second rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

On Sunday, Trump posted a loyalty test on Musk’s X platform amid a three-way race to run the Senate Republican Conference and there for the Senate.

‘Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more,’ Trump wrote.

Musk chimed in with his own immediate reply: ‘This is essential. There is no other way.’

Channeling Trump, he wrote on the platform he bought for $44 billion: ‘Without recess appointments, it will take two years or more to confirm the new administration! This would make it impossible to enact the change demanded by the American people, which is utterly unacceptable.’

That came despite Trump being able to confirm his nominees with Republican control of the Senate, even after a Supreme Court ruling restricted the opportunities to use the fast-track process.

It set up a new loyalty challenge with prospective Senate leaders, and all three immediately complied.

Sometimes, Musk’s role has taken on elements of a lower level communications official.

‘Congratulations @RealTomHomanon being given responsibility for enforcing our borders!’ he wrote, soon after Trump designated the former ICE official as being ‘czar’ in charge of deportations and the border along with aviation, maritime, and border security.

But his posts also reveal his role in shaping who joins the administration, amid the long-held axiom that personnel is power.

‘A band of small-government revolutionaries will save our nation. It’s the only way,’ wrote entrepreneur and Trump-backing former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

‘Absolutely!’ Musk wrote back. ‘Would be interesting to hear recommendations for roles in the new administration for consideration by the President.’