This is a leadership test for Trump. Sometimes, leaders just “throw their dick on the table, to see who’s is the biggest”. (Sorry to be so crude.. but, a CEO told me that, in the middle of a tough negotiation 30 years ago.. we won. I never forgot)
If Trump wins this intermediate battle? He can press for better things in the next round... and, he’ll get it.
If he loses? Well... he’s damaged goods.
Donald Trump has just handed the recalcitrant Republican house members a pretty stark binary choice - retain the collapsing Obamacare fiasco, and the chaos its failure shall cause, or stop the striving for the “perfect” plan and settle for a dismantling in stages.
The flat-out repeal is not, at this point, a viable option, given the great investment already made in its exploitation.
Now, there is no deal that cannot be unwound, but the right starting thread must be plucked out, otherwise it shall become too tangled and snarled to ever be done short of all-out catastrophe, like burning the whole deal with all the collateral damage from the uncontrolled conflagration.