Let's be honest - scrolling through an endless stream of headlines can feel like deja vu on loop. After a while, every story starts to blur, your eyes glaze over, and your brain is begging for something that actually makes you sit up straight.
And then, it happens. Elon Musk. Deportation. Trump. Boom. Your screen suddenly feels electric.
If there's one thing more gripping than a border policy crackdown, it's the idea that America's former President might want to send Elon Musk, the world's richest man, packing.
Yes, you read that right.
For years, we've heard harsh rhetoric aimed at undocumented migrants, asylum seekers, and, as some users on social media once called them, the "cattle class" - desperate people who risk it all to chase the American dream. But Musk? He's no anonymous arrival. He's practically stitched into the American fabric: a symbol of innovation, rebellion, and (depending on the week) free speech absolutism.
And let's not forget - he and Trump have had their moments. Smiles, nods, viral gestures. But politics doesn't play by the rules of bromance. When Trump drops a hint - however vague - about deporting Musk, it's no longer business as usual. It's political theatre at its most surreal - the President vs the billionaire who gave America Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), and maybe one day, Mars.
What happens next? Who knows.
But one thing's for sure: This feud isn't cattle-class drama anymore - it's first-class chaos.
Can Trump do this? Let's explore.
The genesis of this feud lies in Musk disagreeing with Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill". When asked whether he'd deport his former advisor amid Musk's criticism of the legislative measure, Trump's said "we'll have to take a look".
Musk, who was born in South Africa, became a US citizen by naturalisation in 2002. While there is no reason for Trump to take such a drastic step against someone just for disagreeing with his policies, going by the changed atmosphere in the US, his administration can theoretically strip Musk of his citizenship and then target the billionaire for deportation.
The US has examples of denaturalisation in the 20th century. In the McCarthy era, the process was used to target foreign-born US citizens for their political beliefs. Political scientists claimed that in a 60-year period, 22,000 denaturalisations happened. But the practice stopped after the US Supreme Court ruling in 1967 that made denaturalisation more difficult.
Going by Musk's track record - flashing an apparent Nazi salute, celebrating dismantling of USAID and encouraging right wing extremists on his platform X - many across the world would like that to happen. But the comeuppance should not come this way.
If something like this were to happen, the US would enter the zone of authoritarian regimes such as Belarus and Cameroon. The Trump administration is already facing accusations of dimming the light of democracy, and if a decision like this is taken, it is bound to dent the image further.
If Trump deports Musk, it would be the ultimate irony - the champion of American capitalism cast out by the system he helped elevate. A man who built rockets for NASA, factories for Tesla, and headlines for Fox News would suddenly find himself stateless in the country that made him a household name. In the end, it wouldn't just be a clash of egos - it would be a warning shot about how volatile power and loyalty really are in modern America.
Further, any such move would spark a global debate - not just about immigration, but about free speech, dissent and loyalty in the age of billionaires. Musk built his empire on being provocative, unpredictable and often politically inconvenient. Deporting him wouldn't silence him; it would amplify him. And that, perhaps, is the greatest irony: Removing Musk from America might just give him a bigger stage than ever before.
(The author is Executive Editor, Growth, NDTV)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
