[quote=@Vilageidiotx] 2002 to 2006 would be the only time the Reagan era Republicans had the run of it likes this, correct? I mean, Republican President, House, Senate, and court? Those'd be the years to look at in terms of what to expect for partisan policy making on the right. I suspect there will be far less walking back things then people realize (social security, wade vs roe, whatevs) because really the bird has flown the coop on those policies: they are popular, they are here to stay. Besides, it was a conservative court that enacted Roe vs Wade in the first place (albeit in the pre-Reagan days when there was less partisanship.) If I had to guess, they will spend a lot of time trying to unravel Obamacare, and Trump will play with his pet initiatives (anti-TPP, Immigration, Border Wall). You can't really just rip up Obamacare without hurting the millions of people who wouldn't have access to healthcare without it. Trump said himself he is about Repeal and Replace. I don't know what he could even replace it with though. Fuckit, the guy's President, we'll see. The big question I have right now is, you know, who is it exactly we just elected? You can't look back at Trump's policy record like you can another politician, just the shit he has said, and that doesn't... well, he's said a lot of random shit. He also has years of basically being a celebrity, so his public personality is to some extent groomed (hard to tell how much). And there is the question too of how things will go with such a historically inexperienced President.[/quote] And particularly with AHCA, certain parts of it are pretty popular even among republicans (notably the pre-existing conditions clause). I would expect that within the first 100 days as promised, he kills the enforcement arm of the bill (the penalty aspect), and puts a moratorium on the rest. Then cherry-picks the popular things, like pre-existing conditions, and puts them to congress piecemeal. Because the democrats can't very well vote that down or filibuster it, and there's no real GOP opposition to those elements -- the cost would be a concern, sure, but you can throw out the bathwater without killing the baby. Once the bill-cutter-upper comes out onto the table, I guarantee you, the Left will magically produce about a hundred better ideas than AHCA, and the Right already has several. This [i]will not[/i] be a crisis. .....anyway if you look at Trump as an experienced business mogul, instead of an inexperienced politician, all sorts of crazy shit starts to make sense. Pretend Mexico is the corporation owning the skyscraper next to Trump Tower. "We're gonna make Mexico pay for the wall" is a negotiation tactic. Mexico comes back with something like "Uh.... look we're not gonna pay for it, but build what you want." "Well can you at least pay for the paint on your side?" "....Do we get to pick the color?" "Sure." "Okay. But the wall can't be _______, we wanna talk about some things...." Now the wall is a reality, and that's all he was ever after -- consent to build a new wall. Politicians in this country haven't done that kind of negotiating in my lifetime anyway..... apparently it's effective so far? I mean we'll see but...... look all of NAFTA is already showing up to the table and it's been [i]two days.[/i] Fight Trump on any backwards social shit, I'm there with ya, but... I mean I think he's got some chops. I think we're seeing it already and [i]it has not been long.[/i]