In nearly every meeting that President-elect Donald J. Trump holds at Mar-a-Lago, alongside him is someone who has been elected to nothing, nominated to nothing and, only a few months ago, had no meaningful relationship with him.

在马阿拉歌庄园举行的几乎每一场会议中，候任总统特朗普身边都有一个没有当选、没有被提名任何职位的人，就在几个月前，他还与特朗普没有任何严肃的关系。

Elon Musk.

这个人就是埃隆·马斯克。

The world’s richest person has ascended to a position of extraordinary, unofficial influence in Mr. Trump’s transition process, playing a role that makes him indisputably America’s most powerful private citizen. He has sat in on nearly every job interview with the Trump team and bonded with the Trump family, and he is trying to install his Silicon Valley friends in plum positions in the next administration.

这位世界首富在特朗普的政权交接环节发挥着不同寻常的、非官方的影响力，他所扮演的角色使他无可争议地成为美国最有权势的普通公民。他几乎参加了特朗普团队的每一次工作面试，并与特朗普家族建立了联系，他还在努力让自己的硅谷朋友在下一届政府中担任要职。

Mr. Trump announced on Tuesday that Mr. Musk would help lead what he called the Department of Government Efficiency, a new body to “dismantle government bureaucracy.” But Mr. Musk’s true influence on the Trump transition effort goes well beyond that posting.

特朗普周二宣布，马斯克将参与领导他所称的政府效率部，这是一个“摧毁政府官僚主义”的新机构。但马斯克对特朗普过渡工作的真正影响远远超出了这个职位。

Mr. Musk has assumed an almost mythical aura in Mr. Trump’s inner circle. At Mar-a-Lago one recent evening, he walked into the dining room about 30 minutes after the president-elect did and received a similar standing ovation, according to two people who saw him enter.

马斯克在特朗普的核心圈子里有着近乎神话般的光环。前不久的一个晚上，在马阿拉歌庄园，他比候任总统晚了大约30分钟走进餐厅，据两名看到他进来的人说，他获得了与候任总统同样的起立鼓掌待遇。

Mr. Musk, often with his 4-year-old son X on his lap, has spent most of the last week at Mar-a-Lago, joining not just interviews but almost every meeting and many meals that Mr. Trump has had. He briefly shuttled back to Austin, Texas, where he has a $35 million compound, before returning on Friday, where he ate in Mar-a-Lago’s dining room and on its patio, roamed the gift shop and spent time on the golf course — all alongside the president-elect.

上周的大部分时间，马斯克都在马阿拉歌庄园度过，他四岁的儿子X往往就坐在他腿上。他不仅参加了采访，还参加了特朗普的几乎所有会议和用餐。期间他短暂返回了得克萨斯州奥斯汀，在那里他拥有一座价值3500万美元的建筑群。他于周五返回，在马阿拉歌庄园的餐厅和露台上用餐，在礼品店闲逛，在高尔夫球场消磨时间——都是与候任总统一起。

“I’m happy to be the first buddy!” he replied to a social-media follower this weekend.

“我很高兴成为第一哥们！”上周末，他在社交媒体上回复一位关注者说。

This article is based on roughly a dozen interviews with Republican donors, politicians and friends of Mr. Musk, many of whom insisted on anonymity to talk about private conversations.

本文基于对共和党捐赠者、政界人士和马斯克朋友的十几次采访，由于涉及私人谈话，其中许多人坚持不透露姓名。

Publicly, over just the first week of the transition, Mr. Musk has endorsed Senator Rick Scott of Florida to be the next Senate majority leader; urged Republican senators to embrace recess appointments for Mr. Trump; suggested that all government employees should submit a “weekly email of accomplishments”; called for the Department of Education to be closed; solicited recommendations for new administration roles that he could bring to Mr. Trump; wondered if Canada was “dying”; and posted plenty of Trump-themed memes.

就在过渡期的第一周，马斯克公开表示支持佛罗里达州参议员里克·斯科特成为下一任参议院多数党领袖；敦促共和党参议员接受特朗普的休会任命；建议所有政府雇员都应该提交“每周成就电子邮件”；呼吁关闭教育部；让人们建议他能为特朗普带来什么新政府职位；怀疑加拿大处于“垂死”状态；还发了很多特朗普主题的表情包。

Behind the scenes, Mr. Musk’s behavior has been far more hands-on than even some of his allies expected. His role, in the eyes of some Trump aides, even outstrips that of Howard Lutnick and Linda E. McMahon, the two formally appointed leaders of the Trump transition.

在幕后，马斯克的行为比他的一些盟友所预期还要亲力亲为。在特朗普的一些助手看来，他的作用甚至超过了被正式任命为特朗普过渡团队领导人的霍华德·卢特尼克和琳达·麦克马洪。

He has sat in on calls with foreign leaders, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and plans to meet in person this week with President Javier Milei of Argentina when Mr. Milei visits Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Musk has also attended at least one national security meeting with Mr. Trump alongside the likes of Stephen Miller, a top aide, and Donald Trump Jr., according to a person briefed on the meeting.

他旁听了包括土耳其总统埃尔多安和乌克兰总统泽连斯基在内的外国领导人的电话，并计划在本周阿根廷总统米莱访问马阿拉歌庄园时亲自会见他。据一名了解会议情况的人士透露，马斯克还与特朗普的高级助手斯蒂芬·米勒和小唐纳德·特朗普等人一起参加了至少一次国家安全会议。

On Wednesday, Mr. Musk is expected to accompany Mr. Trump to a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill, according to a person close to the president-elect. Mr. Musk is flying aboard Mr. Trump’s plane to Washington, the person said.

据一位与候任总统关系密切的人士透露，周三，马斯克预计将陪同特朗普在国会山与众议院共和党人会面。这位知情人士说，马斯克正乘坐特朗普的飞机前往华盛顿。

Mr. Musk is generally not introducing new names for specific roles, according to people familiar with the process, typically evaluating only people whom the Trump transition team is already considering.

据知情人士透露，马斯克一般不会为特定职位引入新的人选，通常只会评估特朗普过渡团队已经在考虑的人选。

He has voiced support for Mr. Trump’s decision not to appoint Mike Pompeo or Nikki Haley to a senior national security position, although he unsuccessfully expressed concern about giving Representative Elise Stefanik of New York a role that would take her out of Congress. (She has been offered the post of United Nations ambassador.)

他对特朗普不任命迈克·庞皮欧或尼基·黑利担任高级国家安全职位的决定表示支持，不过对于任命纽约州众议员伊莉斯·斯特凡尼克担任一个会让她离开国会的职位，他表示担忧，但没有起作用。（她已被任命为联合国大使。）

Mr. Musk also has a good relationship with Brendan Carr, the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, who is seen as a front-runner to be the body’s next chairman. The billionaire has recently voiced support for Mr. Carr in private conversations at Mar-a-Lago.

马斯克还与联邦通信委员会委员布兰登·卡尔关系良好，后者被视为该机构下一任主席的热门人选。这位亿万富翁最近在马阿拉歌庄园的私下谈话中表达了对卡尔的支持。

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump spokeswoman, told The New York Times that Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump were “great friends and brilliant leaders working together to Make America Great Again.”

特朗普的发言人卡罗琳·莱维特告诉《纽约时报》，马斯克和特朗普是“伟大的朋友和杰出的领导人，他们共同努力恢复美国伟大荣光”。

On a personal level, Mr. Trump seems to be taken with Mr. Musk, adopting him as a quasi member of the family. A photograph posted on social media by Tiffany Trump, Mr. Trump’s youngest daughter, featured the entire family, including grandchildren, at Mar-a-Lago with the message “Dad, we are so proud of you!”

在私交层面，特朗普似乎很喜欢马斯克，把他当作自己的准家庭成员。特朗普最小的女儿蒂芙尼·特朗普在社交媒体上发布了一张照片，上面特朗普全家包括孙辈都在马阿拉歌庄园，她写道：“爸爸，我们为你感到骄傲！”

Conspicuously, Mr. Musk was standing right in the mix, holding his son X.

怀抱儿子X的马斯克醒目地站在其中。

“Elon, get in the picture with your boy,” Mr. Trump told him, according to a video of the moment posted online. “We have to get Elon with his boy — his gorgeous, perfect boy.”

“埃隆，带着你儿子一起拍照吧，”网上发布的一段视频显示，特朗普对他说。“我们必须让埃隆和他的儿子一起拍——他漂亮、完美的儿子。”

On Sunday, Mr. Trump’s eldest grandchild, Kai Trump, put it a little more bluntly with a photo from the golf course: “Elon achieving uncle status.”

周日，特朗普的长孙女凯·特朗普发了一张在高尔夫球场的照片，更直白地说：“埃隆已经是叔叔级别了。”

Mr. Trump has cultivated right-wing members of the tech world over the last year as he has adopted tech-friendly positions on cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and Big Tech antitrust legislation. But at the same time, his vice president-elect, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, has been a supporter of Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission and a target of some conservatives, including Mr. Musk.

去年，特朗普在加密货币、人工智能和大科技反垄断立法等问题上采取了对科技友好的立场，从而培养了科技界的右翼人士。但与此同时，他的候任副总统、俄亥俄州参议员JD·万斯一直是联邦贸易委员会主席莉娜·汗的支持者，后者遭到了包括马斯克在内的一些保守派人士的反对。

Mr. Musk has said that he is recruiting an “A team” from the private sector to help overhaul the government, and that he will ensure “that maniacally dedicated small-government revolutionaries join this administration.” It is unclear how these other tech executives and Mr. Musk himself, whose rocket company, SpaceX, has federal contracts, will avoid conflicts of interest as they work with the administration.

马斯克曾表示，他正在从私营部门招募一支“一流团队”来帮助改革政府，他将确保“狂热奉献的小政府革命者加入这届政府”。目前尚不清楚，其他科技高管和马斯克本人（他的火箭公司SpaceX拥有联邦合同）在与政府合作时如何避免利益冲突。

Mr. Musk has recommended two fellow executives at SpaceX, Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy and Tim Hughes, for administration roles, The Times has reported.

据时报报道，马斯克推荐了SpaceX的两名高管特伦斯·奥肖内西上将和蒂姆·休斯担任行政职务。

He has also been floating other friends and associates for gigs — or at least paved the way for them to have some influence.

他还推荐了其他一些朋友和同事——或者至少为他们获得影响力铺平了道路。

Joe Lonsdale, a tech investor close to Mr. Musk, is not planning to play a formal role in the Trump transition, according to a person briefed on the matter, and he has said publicly that he does not want to join the administration “full time” but would rather play a part-time advisory role.

据一名知情人士透露，与马斯克关系密切的科技投资者乔·朗斯代尔不打算在特朗普的过渡过程中扮演正式角色，他曾公开表示，他不想“全职”加入特朗普政府，更愿意担任兼职顾问。

Another friend of Mr. Musk’s, Ken Howery, served as ambassador to Sweden during the first Trump administration, and has told others that he is interested in another diplomatic position. Another person who could have some influence is Marc Andreessen, a prominent tech investor who, like Mr. Musk and Mr. Howery, spent election night at Mar-a-Lago.

马斯克的另一位朋友肯·豪维利曾在特朗普第一届政府期间担任美国驻瑞典大使，他告诉其他人，他对另一个外交职位感兴趣。另一个可能有一定影响力的人是著名科技投资者马克·安德森，他和马斯克和豪维利一样，在马阿拉歌度过了选举之夜。

Mr. Musk has also encouraged Palmer Luckey, a co-founder of the military technology start-up Anduril, to aid the administration in some way, saying on X that it was “very important” for “entrepreneurial companies like yours” to be involved. Mr. Luckey said in a television interview that he had spoken with the Trump transition team about how he could help.

马斯克还鼓励军事科技初创公司Anduril的联合创始人帕尔默·拉基以某种方式帮助政府，他在X上说，“像你们这样的创业公司”参与进来“非常重要”。勒基在接受电视采访时说，他已经和特朗普过渡团队谈过他能如何提供帮助。

The friend of Mr. Musk’s who currently appears to have the most direct influence is David Sacks, a former colleague dating to their years at PayPal.

在马斯克的朋友中，对他有最直接影响的似乎是戴维·萨克斯，两人曾是在PayPal的同事。

Mr. Sacks, who hosted a fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in San Francisco in June, has developed a direct line of communication by phone with the president-elect. Mr. Sacks, who took a photo with Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump on election night and spent much of the evening in the candidate’s vicinity, has publicly pushed for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be given a position in the administration.

萨克斯今年6月在旧金山为特朗普主持了一场筹款活动，他与候任总统建立了直接的电话沟通渠道。萨克斯曾在选举之夜与马斯克和特朗普合影，当晚大部分时间都待在候选人身边。他曾公开要求小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪在政府中获得一个职位。

Mr. Sacks, a venture capitalist, has told friends since Election Day that because he leads an active fund, it would not be practical for him to play a more formal role in the administration. But he, like Mr. Musk, helped tank the idea of neoconservatives like Mr. Pompeo winning administration roles.

萨克斯是一名风险投资家，自选举日起他就告诉朋友，由于手上有一个主动型基金，他不太可能在政府中扮演更正式的角色。但他和马斯克一样，帮助挫败了庞皮欧等新保守主义者赢得政府职位的企图。