President-elect Donald Trump has been making historical appointments to form his government following his historic US election victory last week.
The most notable nominee among all is tech giant Elon Musk, who played a key role in Trump’s presidential campaign.
He has been appointed as co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
The billionaire donated more than $132 million to the Trump campaign and other Republicans ahead of the US elections and also became a regular attendee at Trump rallies.
But the question arises, why is Musk so involved in politics despite being a successful businessman? And could Musk become president in the future?
It’s very unlikely because the US Constitution clearly states that only “natural born” citizens can become president, and since Musk was born in South Africa, this would automatically disqualify him for holding the office.
However, there is a past example where this rule seemed to be applied differently.
In 2008, the Republican Party previously nominated John McCain to run against Barack Obama despite being born in Panama.
Later, a legal review determined that the politician could be considered “natural born” for two reasons. First, both of his parents were US citizens. Second, he was born on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone, which was under US control at that time.
But Musk's case is entirely different because neither of his parents were born in the United States like him.
