A new report from the New York Times has revealed that Elon Musk is staying at “Banyan,” a cottage just a few hundred feet from the main house of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

Apparently, Musk and Trump have decided that they simply cannot bear to be apart, and it turns out that Musk moved in to the $2,000 a night rental sometime around Election Day. Just so that doesn’t seem too expensive, be aware that once Musk has stayed there for 590,000 years, he’ll be all out of money.

It’s unclear yet whether this is good news or bad news to Trump’s MAGA followers. After all, they just got finished learning all about where Trump’s loyalties lie when it comes to money versus MAGA policy wishes, after a tense immigration fight over H-1B visas in which Trump sided with Elon.

But this news tracks right along with what we’ve seen so far. Musk has sat in on staffing meetings, he’s been the point man on discussions with foreign leaders, and he’s even already shown the power of his influence over Republicans in Congress, who voted against their own spending bill after he threatened to primary them.

Mar-a-Lago is home to multiple cottages like Banyan, where a number of people, including incoming Vice President JD Vance, have been staying during the transition.

Musk did leave the property around Christmas, which explains Trump’s social media love note to him during his absence. Musk was already expected to return early in the new year, but Trump still tried to lure him back earlier with a cryptic message about Bill Gates asking to come to Mar-a-Lago as well.

We’re all but certain Gates did no such thing.

In all, the NYT report was extensive and rather pointed:

Staying right on the grounds has helped provide Mr. Musk with easy access to Mr. Trump.

He can drop in on Mr. Trump’s dinners, such as one he had recently with Mr. Musk’s rival, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Mr. Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars in the final months of this year’s election cycle to help elect Mr. Trump, has attended personnel meetings in the Mar-a-Lago Teahouse, sat in on phone calls with foreign leaders and spent hours with Mr. Trump in his office. Mr. Musk’s employees from his various businesses have also been integrally involved in the transition, vetting prospective candidates for senior administration jobs, in interviews at the Trump transition headquarters in West Palm Beach.

…

Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have privately griped about how much influence Mr. Musk has had on the transition and how inseparable he is from the president-elect.

Mr. Musk is unlikely to have such unfettered physical access to Mr. Trump after the president-elect is sworn in on Jan. 20 in Washington. Coming and going in the West Wing is more onerous than at Mr. Trump’s private clubs, as is access to the White House residence.

Even if it weren’t about Musk already having the ear of the president-elect and simply needing the nearby space to have immediate access to him, staying at Trump’s properties has always been a way that the rich and powerful have used to curry favor with him.

During Trump’s first term, countless foreign dignitaries and investors stayed at his hotels and golfed at his resorts, all in an effort to garner favors from the most powerful man in the world. It seems almost strange that no one is talking about the fact that Trump was already going to listen to Musk, so the arrangement for him to live at Trump’s property is pretty transparently a way to transfer even more money to the incoming president.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Donald Trump sees Elon Musk more often than even the members of his own family, including his wife. Melania Trump is rarely seen with the president-elect, and when she is, it is often not the prettiest scene. Last January, Melania could be seen shouting at her husband and leaving in her own car without him at her mother’s funeral.

It doesn’t look like Trump and Musk are going to have the big falling-out that everyone expects anytime soon. Their relationship appears to be stronger than ever, especially after Trump signaled his agreement on Musk’s immigration stance.

I have a feeling we’ll see that kind of thing over and over in the coming weeks and months, before one or both of them gets tired of the arrangement — either Elon will grow frustrated with the inability to just do anything he wants, anytime he wants to, or Trump will grow weary with not being the most important person in the room at all times.

But that may be a way off. Until then, we’ll see what their unholy alliance will bring.