Ezra Klein: “The core problem is Trump has no idea what he’s talking about on health care and never bothered to learn. ‘Nobody knew health care could be so complicated,’ he famously, and absurdly, said. His inability to navigate its complexities meant he couldn’t make persuasive arguments on behalf of the bills he supported, and he routinely made statements that undercut the legislative process and forced Republicans to defend the indefensible.”

“Because Trump doesn’t understand the legislation or the trade-offs it made, he can’t make persuasive arguments on its behalf in public or private, and so he mostly doesn’t try. Trump and his team are not frequent presences in the public debate trying to sell the legislation they’re so keen to sign. That’s one reason the various bills routinely polled around 20 percent — without Trump using the bully pulpit to argue on behalf of the legislation, critics, terrible Congressional Budget Office reports, and news of congressional infighting filled the void.”

“When Trump does weigh in, it’s often a disaster.”

Rick Klein: “The GOP health care proposals are now in their zombie phase, and the undead can be hard to kill off. Perhaps that’s why President Trump is responding to major setbacks by attacking just about everybody — Democrats, Republicans and even the people who depend on Obamacare for their health insurance — if he’s serious about letting insurance markets fail now. Where he’s not assigning blame, of course, is on himself: ‘I’m not going to own it,’ the president declared.”

“That – aside from being a stunning abdication of presidential responsibility, if he’s serious — means that the White House plan is that there is no plan. The president will lunch with all Republican senators today to try to change minds one last time. But in blaming basically everybody, Trump’s own actions have given those senators no real political wiggle room. Just because Trump doesn’t have a strategy, though, doesn’t mean Republicans in Congress can’t. A failed vote next week would free up lawmakers to go rogue, and even – gasp – talk to people on the other side of the aisle.”

Sam Baker: “It ain’t over until it’s over, and there’s still some chatter bouncing around Capitol Hill about last-minute shenanigans or a Hail Mary on the Senate floor. And President Trump is sure to put some serious pressure on the moderates this afternoon when all of the Republican senators lunch with him at the White House. But unless something dramatic changes, Washington appears to be about done with the repeal-and-replace phase of the debate over the Affordable Care Act.”