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. 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. “Very productive day of work by the transition team,” Musk posted on X, his social media company, on Monday evening. 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 the Capitol to consult with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Overall, Trump is laying the groundwork for his second presidency at a much faster clip than his first. 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 of 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 […]