Even the most loyal supporter of Donald Trump would struggle to say his presidency got off to a flying start.

Before he was out of the starting gates, his much-hyped Muslim travel ban was struck down by the courts, his national security adviser was forced to resign after lying about meeting Russian officials and his first attempt to scrap Obamacare crashed and burned in an embarrassing farce.

At the symbolic 100-day mark, that golden point where presidents typically expect to be making hay, Trump had little to show for his labour.

He is ending 2017 very differently. Despite the chaos and rancour, the law approval ratings and the constant tweeting, he has quietly delivered on many of the promises he made to his supporters.

In addition to the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, he has rolled back Obama-era regulations on the environment, dug in his heels on refusing to join the Paris Accord, finally got through a version of his travel ban and now, in a move that pleased him so much that he tweeted his joy at 1am, the Senate passed a sweeping tax bill unmatched in its scale and ambition for decades. For conservative Christians, he also recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

As Mike Allen of news website Axios wrote: “You might not like his words or actions. But measured in terms of what Republican voters want and expected, he’s winning on consequential and lasting fronts.”

But there is a dark irony to much of this. While Trump may be forgiven for gloating over his success, the truth is the majority of the core of supporters who approve of his actions will benefit very little from any of them. Indeed, many may find themselves much worse off.

The tax bill is a case in point. While Democrats and Republicans argue over which Americans will benefit, an analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Centre suggested almost three-quarters of the savings would go to the top 20 per cent of earners – those making more than 149,000. More than half of the savings would go to the top one percent, that gilded group of folk who pocket more than $732,800.

Meanwhile, the bill will cut corporate tax from 35 per cent to 20 per cent, an overall likely saving to US businesses of almost $2 trillion over the next decade.

As the New York Times says, with such money, comes additional political power. “As a smaller and smaller group of people cornered an ever-larger share of the nation’s wealth, so too did they gain an ever-larger share of political power,” it wrote. “They became, in effect, kingmakers; the tax bill is a natural consequence of their long effort to bend American politics to serve their interests.”

Likewise, the Republican proposal to replace Obamacare would similarly hurt the poor. A report by the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Centre and Brookings Tax Policy Centre, found families making less than $75,000 a year would end up losing money, on average, because they are the ones who today get coverage from Medicaid or rely most on tax credits.

Among the individuals and families with incomes of $10,000 to $20,000 a year, the average loss would equal roughly 13 per cent. Among the very poorest, the ones making even less than $10,000 a year, the average loss would be equal to 61 per of annual income.

Trump praises withdrawl from 'expensive and unfair' Paris climate agreement

The phenomenon of people voting against their own interests is nothing new. But Trump’s pitch to voters was that he would be utterly different. He was ready to shake up the Washington elites and put out the noses of industry lobbyists. He’d build a wall to keep out Mexicans who he claimed were stealing the jobs of ordinary Americans.

The billionaire’s claim to be a champion of the downtrodden always looked like a fantasy, as did his claim about the impact of migrant labour. But there were enough people, desperate and angry, and who felt the benefits of a global economy had passed them by, who were willing to roll the dice for him. (There were also lots of ideological Republicans who voted for him because they gambled he’d help deliver the tax cut they so coveted.)

Among the communities that voted most strongly for Trump in the Republican primary was Virginia’s Buchanan County, a rural community that once made good money from mining but which had since fallen on hard times. It was also, per capita, the most ill county in the nation.

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: “Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldn’t help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of “The Apprentice” — which buoyed Trump’s celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the “worst call” he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trump’s travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administration’s argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be “little Rocket Man” as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed” after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to “join” him. He noted that she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of “fake news” Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trump’s White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didn’t mention “jews” or even the word “jewish” in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trump’s inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didn’t, the day was very dreary Reuters

“I will vote for Trump,” Jeanette Matney, 46, whose husband once had a job in a coal mine she said paid $10,000 a month, told The Independent shortly before the election. After being unemployed for a year, he had a job as a correctional officer she said paid $1,700. “When you lose that sort of money, you live on a budget, you send things back. You go to the grocery store and only get the things you need.”

For all of Trump’s talk of being ready to upset powerful interests, he has pandered to them. Earlier this month, his Department of the Interior announced it was opening up two national parks in Utah, considered sacred by indigenous people, to mining exploration. His other rolling back of environmental standards, was described by one environmentalist as “an industry wish-list”.

The tax cut that House Speaker Paul Ryan is beside himself with joy about, was nothing but hardcore Republican orthodoxy. It’s also likely to personally benefit Trump, but since he does not release his tax returns, we can’t be sure.

Will Trump’s supporters have some sudden awakening? Will they come to see that amid all the talk of making America great again, their president has done very little for them? Probably not.

“American politics is turning more and more into tribal warfare,” said David Corn, Political Editor of the left-leaning Mother Jones. “And people make a decision based on their tribal affiliation rather than on the specific issues.”