Trump's presidency at pivot point

London

THE Trump team is reeling after it pulled, from a vote in the House of Representatives on Friday, a landmark healthcare bill designed to repeal the so-called Obamacare legislation. The move is a major setback to the White House in what was its first major legislative test in Congress.

The episode highlights that, while President Donald Trump has shown himself to be an effective - if often unorthodox - campaigner, it is genuinely unclear what governing competence he will demonstrate as the first president since Dwight Eisenhower never before to have held elected office. Despite the billionaire businessman's claims of being a master dealmaker, Friday's reversal underlines how different the national political domain can be to that of running a privately-held family conglomerate.