WASHINGTON — Just two months in, Donald Trump's presidency is perilously adrift.

His first major foray into legislating imploded Friday when House Republicans abandoned a White House-backed health care bill, resisting days of cajoling and arm-twisting from Trump himself. Aides who had confidently touted Trump as the deal's "closer" were left bemoaning the limits of the presidency.

"At the end of the day, you can't force somebody to do something," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

On its own, the health care bill's collapse was a stunning rejection of a new president by his own party. And for Trump, the defeat comes with an especially strong sting. The president who campaigned by promising "so much winning," has so far been beset by a steady parade of the opposite. With each setback and sidetrack, comes more concern about whether Trump, the outsider turned president, is capable of governing.

"You can't just come in and steamroll everybody," said Bruce Miroff, a professor of American politics and the presidency at the State University of New York at Albany. "Most people have a modest understanding of how complicated the presidency is. They think leadership is giving orders and being bold. But the federal government is much more complicated, above all because the Constitution set it up that way."

David Fuller's view

This latest article is very good and expands on some of the points made in response to earlier reports above.

The US economy is well known for performing despite the background of ineffective central governance. Nevertheless, it would be better if this was not put to the test too frequently. US GDP growth would be easier to increase and sustain with an economically savvy White House which also had a chance of uniting the country, as we saw with Ronald Reagan.