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Donald Trump has wasted no time in assembling his administration for his second time period within the White Home after his historic US election victory final week.
Among the many confirmed picks is Elon Musk, controversial tech mogul and businessman who performed a key position in Mr Trump’s presidential marketing campaign.
He has been appointed co-head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) alongside Vivek Ramaswamy. In accordance with Mr Trump, the non-departmental advisory group will “pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
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Elon Musk shakes Donald Trump’s hand. Trump lately joked he ‘can’t eliminate’ the billionaire (AFP through Getty Photos)
Mr Musk gave over $132m to the Trump marketing campaign and different Republicans within the run-up to the US election. The South African-born billionaire, who owns each Twitter/X and Tesla, additionally turned an everyday at Trump rallies.
However his path to Trump’s facet wasn’t solely clean. In 2014, Mr Musk described himself as “half Democrat, half Republican,” and revealed in 2022 that he had constantly voted Democrat prior to now.
Mr Musk had even come to blows with Mr Trump prior to now over this, because the president-elect publicly claimed that the billionaire had lied to him about how he had voted.
Now, it could seem that the pair are shut mates. Mr Musk has been noticed spending a variety of time with Mr Trump following the US election, and has lately made the daring dedication to shave $2tn from US authorities spending (which was $6.75tn in whole in 2023).
And his newfound success in politics has additionally led to hypothesis that he might search the highest job himself in the future.
May Elon Musk run for president?
It’s impossible. The US Structure makes clear that solely ‘natural born’ US residents can function president – and Mr Musk was born in South Africa. This could mechanically disqualify the eccentric tech mogul from turning into president.
However the Republican celebration has put ahead a candidate who was not born on US soil earlier than. In 2008, John McCain was in a position to run towards Barack Obama regardless of being born in Panama and never turning into a US citizen till he was 11 months previous.
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Elon Musk jumps on stage as he joins Donald Trump throughout a marketing campaign rally, 5 October (Getty Photos)
This prompted some controversy on the time, with some critics saying it ought to rule out Mr McCain as a candidate.
Nonetheless, a authorized evaluate discovered that the politician might be thought-about ‘natural-born’ on account of two elements. Firstly, each of his dad and mom have been US residents. Secondly, the navy base the place he was born was within the Panama Canal Zone, which was underneath US management on the time.
With a South African father and Canadian mom, Mr Musk would possible face extra problem explaining why he must be allowed to run.
