A year on, Trump still has time to turn things around

DONALD Trump's first year of office ends this week. After his remarkable election victory in November 2016, big domestic policy wins have been very short on the ground, yet he retains the potential to turn his presidency around and win re-election in 2020.

Multiple polls through much of 2017 have shown him to be the most unpopular White House incumbent of the modern political era. This reflects the fact that he enjoyed no presidential honeymoon last year, unlike many other incumbents in the past, despite the fact that Republicans enjoyed a "clean sweep" of the November 2016 federal elections securing majorities in both houses of Congress, as well as the White House.

Instead, he has largely stumbled from controversy to crisis; last week, he was accused by lawmakers of describing Central American and African nations as "shithole countries", an episode which may make proposed immigration reforms even harder to secure in coming months.