It’s this last requirement that has proven so difficult to define over the years, as it’s not actually defined in the constitution. Most agree that it means a person born in the US or who are granted US citizenship at birth.

One of the most popular criticisms to level at a potential presidential hopeful is that they are not a “natural born citizen”. It was this claim that was most often thrown at Barack Obama, largely by conservative republicans. They alleged that Obama was not born in Honolulu, Hawaii as displayed on his birth certificate but in foreign lands undisclosed. The intention was to whip up Islamophobia around Obama, claiming that he was an “Arab” and not fit to be president.

The largest proponent of this was Trump, who in 2011 claimed that he was sending a team of investigators to Hawaii to unearth the truth about Obama’s birth. He offered a $5 million (£3.8 million) charity reward to anyone who could convince him Obama was a “natural born citizen”. As he ramped up his own campaign for president, Trump doubled down on the claims, exhorting hackers to break into Obama’s college records to find his birth certificate and alleging that an expert had confirmed to Trump that Obama’s birth certificate was a fraud.

The surprising reason why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can’t run for President in 2020