"I'm wishing him the best and just hope he's got his back covered, because I imagine the resistance to changing just about anything here in the US is going to be fierce."

When you are honest, as I think he is, you don't think about having your back covered. He has the support of the popular classes, which may be the best protection.

However, the powers that be and that may fear to lose a lot in this transformation process, may make an abrupt end to it. It happened before (think JFK).