Nibbling on crabs, sushi and sugar cookies, some of the richest and the soon-to-be most powerful people in the world waited for the election results on Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s gilded fortress on the sea.
At one of the tables, Trump sat with Elon Musk, the billionaire technology executive, and Dana White, chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Hours before the final outcome was established, Musk decided to call the whole race. “Game, set and match,” he posted on X, the platform he owns, to his 200mn followers, at 10.32pm.
The next day, after it was confirmed that the Republican had defeated Kamala Harris, Trump and Musk ate together on the terrace of the resort, with Musk wearing a T-shirt of astronauts walking on the moon with Mars in the distance.
“Novus Ordo Seclorum,” Musk wrote on X, the Latin expression for “a new era is born”.
Amid the jubilant scenes at Mar-a-Lago, there were plenty of signs about how a second Trump presidency might be different than the first one — and, in particular, just how changed his new inner circle will be.
The 78-year-old Republican appears to be even more influenced by his billionaire donors and allies than he was during his first term in office — particularly Musk. He is also more willing to embrace the ideology of the politically ascendant new American right, and more determined to press ahead with his aggressive agenda from his very first day in office.
Trump’s inner circle
Eight years ago, Trump was forced to lean on the Republican establishment for counsel: this time, the group of individuals who have his ear are largely Maga loyalists, ranging from his vice-president-elect JD Vance and his eldest son Don Jr to a circle of wealthy allies pitching for plum jobs in the administration.
On Thursday, Trump made his first big personnel announcement, tapping Susie Wiles, his top campaign strategist and a longtime political operative in Florida, to be the next White House chief of staff.
It marks the opening move in what is expected to be a flurry of personnel announcements over the coming week that will reveal Trump’s team, including his cabinet, as he prepares to move back into the White House on January 20.
Trump’s goal will be to quickly implement policies ranging from the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants to sweeping tax cuts and across-the-board tariffs on imports that he promised on the campaign trail, along with exacting retribution against his political opponents.