President Trump pressed Republican lawmakers on Thursday to continue their push to overhaul the country's healthcare system, diverging once again from his previous calls to let the Affordable Care Act "implode."

"Congress must do its job, keep its promise, live up to its word and repeal and replace ObamaCare," Trump said to a crowd of supporters in Huntington, W.Va. "You have to do it."

"Nothing in life is easy, but Congress must not give in. They must not give up," he continued. "But instead Congress must get to work and deliver Americans the great healthcare that they deserve, the great repeal and replace that they've been talking about for seven years."

The Senate narrowly rejected a "skinny" ObamaCare repeal measure last week, throwing another wrench into Republicans' longtime promise to repeal and replace large parts of former President Obama's signature healthcare law.

Hours after the failed healthcare vote, Trump tweeted that he would simply "let ObamaCare implode" and use the resulting crisis to strike a repeal deal with Democratic lawmakers.

"[Three] Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down," Trump wrote on Twitter Friday. "As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!"

Trump has floated the notion of allowing the healthcare law to collapse in the past, but has later gone on to urge lawmakers to act.