Donald Trump is building his new administration more like a Silicon Valley start-up than a traditional presidential transition, according to insiders.
The president-elect has snubbed Washington advisers in preference for business outsiders and influencers with massive social media followings.
His advisers are said to range from captains of industry to a Las Vegas waitress Trump says was the inspiration behind his proposal to stop taxing tips.
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And the setting for the new power players in government is not the back corridors of the nation’s capital but the curtained-off rooms at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort.
It’s a “positive type of startup culture,” one person involved in the transition meetings told Politico, adding that Trump and his team are “pulling the best people into the room to give ideas, regardless of titles.
“There’s positive energy, creativity, openness to ideas,” the source added.
“There’s a lot of different factions. There’s a lot of people calling Trump. There’s a lot of people who thought one thing was set in stone and are finding out that’s not the case, and the chessboard is going to be shuffled a lot in the coming weeks,” added another insider.
The informal atmosphere was set during the weekend when Trump and Elon Musk whizzed around Mar-a-Lago on a golf cart and dined with Melania to the applause of curious guests, writes Politico.
New chief-of-staff Susie Wiles, RFK Jr., Donald Trump Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard were all spotted on the periphery of the transition meetings held in rooms off the patio. Conservative influencers like Charlie Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy have also been seen at the West Palm Beach club.
Musk is said to be a dominant influence and, says Politico, has been in the room during Trump’s calls with world leaders.
Controversial congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been spotted around town vying for a Cabinet position and UFC CEO Dana White has been omnipresent.
“Trump loves to see people scramble and suck up,” one GOP insider told the BBC.
The Trump team is determined to avoid the mistakes at the start of his first term when a procession of candidates was paraded in front of the cameras going in and out of Trump Tower in New York.
This time around, the “Winter White House” in Florida is the epicenter of MAGAworld.
Axios reported separately that the transition team in Mar-a-Lago was using a mock White House Situation Room, complete with banks of TV monitors, as they sift through “digital dossiers” of candidates for about 40 Cabinet positions and agency leadership roles.
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