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Article snippet: The White House believes a strong close to 2017, capped by the passage of a $1.5 trillion tax bill, has put MORE in a positive position as he enters his second year in office. The sweeping tax package helped erase the sting of the GOP’s failure to repeal ObamaCare and let Trump and his congressional allies put their very public differences aside in a year-end celebration at the White House. Trump's team argues that the tax bill, which also ended the mandate for individuals to buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act and opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, put a bow on a positive and meaningful first year for Trump. “At the end of the year, you see the president achieving things and getting results,” said a White House official. “We had, basically, a hat trick of accomplishments coming in all at once in the tax bill.” Trump is adding those achievements to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and a dozen other judges to federal courts and the rollback of Obama-era rules and regulations. After a months-long legal battle, the White House was able to implement a modified version of its travel ban and impose new rules to fulfill Trump’s promise to carry out “extreme vetting” on immigrants and travelers entering the U.S. “It's always a lot of fun when you win,” Trump said this week, surrounded by GOP lawmakers after the tax bill’s passage. During his run for the White House in 2016, Trump promised Americans they would get “so sic... Link to the full article to read more