Trump calls it the ‘center of the universe.’ Mar-a-Lago is a magnet for those seeking influence

PALM BEACH, Fla. — The cars begin lining up early in the morning to be screened by Secret Service agents under white tents near the fence that surrounds President-elect Donald Trump’s vast south Florida estate. A Christmas Eve video showed Trump in one of the resort’s ballrooms full of guests, dancing to one of his favorite songs, the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” while his daughter Ivanka sat in a gilded chair nearby. “I just know that everybody I know wants some job.” Musk has been a constant presence at the club, so much so that Trump’s granddaughter, Kai, wrote on X that he was “achieving uncle status.” Trump has tasked Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with leading the Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental task force formed to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations. Trump shared with the party guests that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, whom he threatened with a 25% tariff on all imported goods unless she does more to tackle illegal border crossings and drug flows, “has made progress.” At another recent event at Mar-a-Lago, this one hosted by the America First Policy Institute, the ballroom was full of recognizable Trump-world figures such as Kellyanne Conway, who served as counselor to the president, and Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point Action. At a news conference Trump held recently at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect noted the changed mood compared with his first term, saying, “Everybody wants to be my friend.” Besides Zuckerberg, Trump has hosted other Silicon Valley executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.