Trump's first attempt at legislation fails as Republicans pull healthcare bill

Below: Faction field guide

US President Donald Trump's first attempt at legislation – a bill to repeal Obamacare — has failed.

Republican leaders pulled the American Health Care Act from the floor of the House around 3pm local time (Saturday morning NZT), conceding they did not have the votes to introduce the legislation, despite a 24-hour delay.

The president tried brinksmanship, telling Republicans it was now-or-never for healthcare reform.

But at least 33 members of Congress from his own party rebelled anyway.

And regardless, later on Twitter, Mr Trump implied that he was in fact up for another push, posting "We will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!"

However, House speaker Paul Ryan – the president's key Republican ally on the legislation – seemed resigned to defeat, telling media, "Obamacare is the law of the land ... and we're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future."

At an Oval Office briefing, Mr Trump sent mixed signals. At one point he said he did not feel betrayed by Republicans who refused to back his bill. At another, he snapped, "We learned a lot about loyalty."

"I'm a little surprised, to be honest with you," Mr Trump said.

During the last-minute scramble for votes, the president did not always seem fully engaged. After an extended photo op with truckers, he told the watching press corps that he was off to make more calls to lobby for support for his bill. A reporter told him the vote had been called off.

Faction fighting
Mr Trump's failure to reconcile differences between centrist, mainstream-right and hard-right Republicans does not bode well for the rest of his agenda, which includes tax cuts, a $US54 billion (or 10% boost to the defence budget, a wall along the Mexican border and spending $1 trillion on infrastructure.

It's also a classic illustration that, whatever your system of government, you can't escape faction fighting.

Fans of our old first-past-the-post system might look in envy at the Republicans' hold on all four branches of legislative decision making (the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate and – assuming Neil Gorsuch is confirmed – the Supreme Court).

Instead, the president's first attempt at introducing legislation turned into a mess.

To get his agenda through, Mr Trump has to balance the demands of three sub-tribes of Republicans in the House — where he can only afford 21 Republican defections on any given bill, assuming Democrats vote as a bloc.

In the case of his rushed healthcare bill, "The Closer" made a hash of it.

These are the factions he'll have to make nice with to stage a comeback:

The Freedom Caucus
A group of 31 hardline conservative Republicans, who could be seen as the successors to the Tea Party movement that spawned House Speaker Paul Ryan (although they proved immune to Mr Ryan's charms as he tried to help the president introduce the healthcare act). In New Zealand, these guys (and they do seem to be gents), would be ACT. Mr Trump did win over seven members of the Freedom Caucus as he made some concessions but he also alienated others with his threat to "go after" Mark Meadows at the 2018 mid-term elections if his caucus did not support a vote on Thursday (it didn't). A second threat from Mr Trump — that there would be no other chance to repeal Obamacare after today — also failed. At least 15 Freedom Caucus members remained opposed the bill.

The Republican Study Group
In the middle, there's the Republican Study Group of 150 mainstream members. The White House won over most of this faction, but at least eight were still in the "no" camp.

The Tuesday Group
Then there's the centrist Tuesday Group of centrist Republicans, a number of whom represent Congressional districts where Hillary Clinton won the presidential vote. Many were worried about the number of their constituents who would lose coverage or see premiums rise under Trumpcare. At least 10 were planning to vote against Mr Trump's healthcare bill.

In the 100-seat Senate, where the Republicans have a majority of two, it's more of a free-for-all.

Had the president got his healthcare bill through the House, the upper chamber looked problematic. At least four Republican senators said they would not support it. Internal opposition was led by Texan Senator Ted Cruz — the subject of so many personal insults from Trump during the campaign. On Bloomberg TV's The Circus, Senator Cruz looked positively gleeful.

So far, the president is showing no signs of comprehending that the abrasive tactics that served him so well on the campaign trail don't work on Capitol Hill.