After one of the most bitter presidential elections in history, Americans are sharply divided as they await Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Half the country thinks that Trump will finally fix what’s long been broken in Washington. The other half is deeply concerned that he’ll dismantle programs and policies that the U.S. and its allies depend on, and that he lacks the temperament to be president. The only thing everyone agrees on is that a lot of things are likely to change in the next four years, after President Obama leaves the White House.
As Trump prepares to take office on January 20, the country is starting to get a glimpse of how he might govern. It’s often said that “politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose,” meaning that promises often give way to the realities of winning support for their proposals from lawmakers and the public. Trump has already softened several positions since the election, as winning candidates often do.
One example is Trump’s evolving position on Obamacare, the healthcare law that’s considered Obama’s signature achievement. After months of promising to repeal it, Trump said after his victory that he’d consider keeping some of its most popular features: allowing young people to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26 and guaranteeing that people with pre-existing medical conditions can’t be denied insurance.
He could still change his mind and try to repeal the entire law. And in other areas, political analysts expect Trump to more clearly depart from Obama’s policies. Here’s a look at six ways Trump’s presidency could reshape the nation.