President Donald Trump cast blame Sunday for the collapse of his effort to overhaul the health care system on conservative interest groups and far-right Republican lawmakers, shifting culpability to his own party after initially faulting Democratic intransigence.
His attack - starting with a tweet that singled out the House Freedom Caucus as well as the influential Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America - marked a new turn in the increasingly troubled relationship between the White House and a divided GOP still adjusting to its unorthodox standard-bearer.
And it served as a warning shot, with battles still to come on issues such as taxes and infrastructure that threaten to further expose Republican fractures, that Trump will not hesitate to apply public pressure on those in his party he views as standing in the way.
In a sign Sunday of the ripple effects on the GOP's conservative flank, one high-profile member of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, resigned from the group and took a swipe at its opposition to the Trump-backed health care bill.
"Saying no is easy, leading is hard," he said.
The rising tensions followed a flurry of finger-pointing after Friday's decision by Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to pull the health care measure, effectively ending for now the GOP's years-long quest to repeal President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement.
Amber Phillips
If President Donald Trump is going to put the blame for Republicans' inability to pass health care legislation on the House Freedom Caucus, at least one member of the conservative coalition thinks it deserves it.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, resigned Sunday from the coalition of 35 to 40 conservative...
(Amber Phillips)
Not long ago, many Republican leaders, even as they were wary of Trump's unusual background and style, had considered his presidency a chance to finally unify the party around passing a long-sought policy agenda.
But now, in the health care bill's raw aftermath, Republican leaders are learning that the Trump presidency is doing little, if anything, to heal their party.
"We've been here before," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., the co-chairman of the centrist Tuesday Group. "The only difference is now we have a Republican president and some people thought the fever might break a little bit. But apparently not."
Trump's attack Sunday had the look of a coordinated effort.
His tweet appeared at 8:21 a.m. as official Washington prepared to tune into Sunday news shows: "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!"
Less than an hour later, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appeared on television to echo his boss' sentiments, saying his missive hit "the bull's eye."
As if to rub salt in the GOP's wound, Priebus hinted that Trump may simply start looking past the Republican majority and try forging more consensus with moderate Democrats in future legislative battles. He pointed to the Freedom Caucus and the Tuesday Group for heavily resisting the health care bill.
"We can't be chasing the perfect all the time," Priebus said during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." "I mean, sometimes you have to take the good and put it in your pocket and take the win."
Although Trump targeted conservative opponents of the bill Sunday, he has also shown signs of frustration with its moderate critics. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Dent acknowledged that Trump told him in a private meeting that he was "destroying the Republican Party" and that he "was going to take down tax reform," as first reported by the New York Times magazine.
Trump's tweet came a day after a strange episode that prompted speculation that he was seeking to undermine Ryan's standing.
Trump encouraged his Twitter followers Saturday to watch Jeanine Pirro, one of his favorite Fox News Channel hosts, that night.
John Wagner
A Fox News personality - whom President Donald Trump had urged his supporters to watch Saturday night - called on House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to step down, saying he had done a disservice to Trump by failing to pass a high-profile health-care bill this week.
At the top of her show, Jeanine...
(John Wagner)
On her program, Pirro said that Ryan should resign as speaker, adding that despite his "swagger and experience," he presided over a failed effort that allowed "our president in his first 100 days to come out of the box like that."
Priebus, in his Sunday appearance, dismissed the episode as a coincidence, and Trump has said in recent days that he has a good relationship with Ryan.
"He doesn't blame Paul Ryan," Priebus said on Fox News. "In fact, he thought Paul Ryan worked really hard. He enjoys his relationship with Paul Ryan, thinks that Paul Ryan is a great speaker of the House."
Nonetheless, the episode served to highlight the challenges ahead for Ryan in attempting to regain control over the House GOP and maintain a working rapport with the White House.
Doug Heye, a GOP strategist and former congressional aide, said Republicans' inability to forge consensus on health care shook the party to the core.
"It's hard to see where we can be successful, and it leads to a lot of questions as to whether Republicans can govern, even with a Republican in the White House," he said.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a Republican former congressman who helped found the Freedom Caucus, was at a loss Sunday to explain why so many of those members were not prepared to vote for the health care bill.
Speaking on "Meet the Press," Mulvaney said that conservatives were not the only ones to blame, saying, "It was a bizarre combination of who was against this bill, some folks in the Freedom Caucus and then moderates on the other end of our spectrum."
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who heads the Freedom Caucus, responded to the tweet without any animosity toward the president.
Noah Bierman
Driven by an obsession for a quick win and failing to grasp the complexities of an issue that has bedeviled politicians for generations, President Trump learned last week that the negotiating tricks and power plays he honed in business don’t translate into the messy world of Congress.
“Political...
(Noah Bierman)
"I mean, if [Democrats are] applauding, they shouldn't, because I can tell you that conversations over the last 48 hours are really about how we come together in the Republican Conference and try to get this over the finish line," he said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."