The Trump/Pence ticket is already one of the most, um, colorful and awkward pairings in political history, on oh so many levels. But here's kind of a big one for voters, in the event that the guy who knows how to make policy has any influence over the would-be president: Social Security.

See, while senior issues are about the only thing that Trump isn't absolutely awful on, his running mate has a scary history.

Pence spent 12 years in Congress as a leading fiscal conservative. During his tenure he backed various efforts to reform Social Security in a bid to make the program solvent for the long term and to reduce government spending. Among those efforts was President Bush's 2005 reform proposal. Among other things, Bush's plan would have let workers divert some of their payroll taxes into private investment accounts. It also would have reduced the growth rate in benefits for future high-income retirees.

That would be privatizing Social Security, just to be clear. In fact, he thought Bush's plan didn't go far enough or wouldn’t happen fast enough, "calling for an even larger private accounts scheme to be implemented sooner, putting Americans at even greater fiscal risk than the President's doomed plan." This deficit peacock was so serious about privatizing Social Security, he wanted to do it with increased deficit spending.

Oh, but that's not all! He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Paul Ryan budget that first proposed making Medicare a voucher program. Raising the retirement age? You betcha. Cutting Medicaid? No problem.