President Donald Trump blamed Democrats in Congress on Friday after House Republicans were forced to cancel a vote on their health care bill – warning the opposition party that they will continue to 'own Obamacare' as it spins in a death spiral.

The stunning uppercut came on the day he failed to deliver – for now, at least – on the promise he made in hundreds of campaign appearances, to 'repeal and replace Obamacare.'

Shortly after the vote was called off, a resigned House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters that Obamacare was still 'the law of the land. It's going to remain the law of the land until it's replaced.'

Although it was GOP infighting that caused the legislative crisis, the president predicted that Obamacare will ultimately crash and burn – forcing Democrats to come crawling to the White House for his help in crafting a workable replacement 'when it explodes – which it will soon.'

'The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,' Trump claimed, naming the Democratic Party's leaders in the House and Senate, 'because now they own Obamacare. They own it. One hundred per cent own it.'

'They have Obamacare for a little while longer until it ceases to exist, which it will at some point in the near future.'

'And just remember,' Trump warned: 'This is not our bill. This is their bill. Now when they all become civilized and get together and try to work out a great health care bill for the people of this country, we're open to it.'

Don't blame me! 'The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,' Trump claimed, naming the Democratic Party's leaders in the House and Senate, 'because now they own Obamacare. They own it. One hundred per cent own it.' He was flanked by Tom Price, the health secretary, and Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office

Next step - blame them: Trump turned his fire on the Democrats as his own flagship plan ended in humiliating defeat

It's over: Trump appeared in public at a celebration of Greek Independence Day just before it was announced that the Obamacare repeal and replace bill was being abandoned

Gleeful and giggly: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the canceled vote 'a victory' for America

Mocking and triumphant: Senate Minority Leader chuck Schumer said Trump's 'incompetence and broken promises' were to blame

Humiliated: Paul Ryan had to admit that Obamacare is now 'the law of the land' for the foreseeable future

Republican leaders took the extraordinary step of canceling a vote on their American Health Care Act, which was to be a replacement for the seven-year-old Affordable Care Act.

Ryan yanked the major Trump priority because it didn't have enough Republican votes to pass, and no Democrats were willing to sign on.

A White House source told DailyMail.com that the decision was ultimately the president's.

The result leaves former president Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement in place – at least for now.

'I don't know how long it will take us to replace this law,' Ryan said. 'My worry is Obamacare is going to be getting even worse.'

'Actually I think we were probably doing the Democrats a favor,' he said, describing how Republican action might have removed an albatross from their necks.

Asked if Republicans would be left with no choice but to 'prop up' te Obamacare system, Ryan called it 'so fundamentally flawed [that] I don't know that that is possible.'

'What we're really worried about is ... the coming premium increases that are coming with this death-spiraling health care system.'

I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Because now they own Obamacare. They own it. One hundred per cent own it. ... They have Obamacare for a little while longer until it ceases to exist, which it will at some point in the near future. And just remember: This is not our bill. This is their bill. Now when they all become civilized and get together and try to work out a great healthcare bill for the people of this country, we're open to it. We're totally open to it. President Donald J. Trump

But he recognized that not being able to marshal the GOP's collective forces to pass a biss was 'a setback, no two ways about it.'

Ryan needed the support of 216 out of the 241 Republicans. Trump said he 'came close' but couldn't seal the deal.

'We had no Democrat support; we had no votes from the Democrats. They weren't going to give us a single vote,' Trump complained.

The Obamacare law was passed without a single Republican 'yes' in March 2010 – almost exactly seven years ago.

Trump returned over and over to his gloomy prediction of an epic collapse for medical insurance markets under the system the U.S. will return to by default.

'I think what will happen is Obamacare unfortunately will explode,' he told reporters. 'It's going to have a very bad year. Last year you had over 100 per cent [premium] increases in various places.'

Trump said he was content 'to let Obamacare go its way for a little while, and we'll see how things go' while he prepares to tackle infrastructure spending and tax reform.

'I'd like to see it do well. But it can't. ... It can't do well,' he said.

'It's imploding and soon will explode. And it's not going to be pretty.'

'Eventually it's not sustainable,' the businessman-president insisted. 'The insurance companies are leaving. You know that. They're leaving one by one as quick as you can leave.'

'And you have states – in some cases soon will not be covered. so there's no way out of that.'

He predicted that 2017 'is going to be a very, very bad year for Obamacare. Very, very bad. You're going to have explosive premium increases. And your deductibles are so high people don't even get to use it.'

At the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Nancy Pelosi could hardly contain her glee.

Over and out: Paul Ryan looked disconsolate as he left the White House after telling Trump he could not get enough votes to pass Obamacare repeal and replace

'Today is a great day for our country. It's a victory,' she said. 'What happened on the [House] floor is a victory for the American people, for our seniors, for people with disabilities, for our children, for our veterans.'

'It's pretty exciting for us,' Pelosi said with a partisan cluck.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump was 'working the phones ... He's left everything on the field when it comes to this bill'

On the other side of the Capitol, Chuck Schumer openly mocked Trump for failing to make the entire House Republican Conference fall in line.

'The TrumpCare bill failed because of two traits that have plagued the Trump presidency since he took office: incompetence and broken promises. In my life, I have never seen an administration as incompetent as the one occupying the White House today,' he said.

'Today we’ve learned that they can’t close a deal, and they can’t count votes. So much for the Art of the Deal.'

Ryan's failure to bring the American Health Care Act across the first of many finish lines exposed fractures in the House GOP at the same time it brought into sharp relief the 47-year-old speaker's lack of governing experience.

'Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with some growing pains,' Ryan said. 'Well, we're feeling those growing pains today. We came really close today. But we came up short.'

'I will not sugar-coat this. This is a disappointing day for us. Doing big things is hard,' Ryan added.

'We just didn't quite get consensus today. ... We came very close. That's why I thought the wise thing to do is not proceed with a vote – to pull the bill and see what we can do.'

The 180-degree turn happened after House leaders met in Ryan's office to make a plan following his White House visit.

President Trump had demanded the House hold the vote or admit defeat.

Finished: Paul Ryan spoke after the decision to pull the bill and said it was 'a disappointing day'

Humiliation: The failure of the Obamacare repeal and replacement plan is a dark day for Paul Ryan and the White House which had claimed just two hours earlier that the vote was happening

STARING AT DEFEAT: President Trump said 'we'll have to see' when he was asked in the Oval Office if the House would vote for his repeal and replace plan on Friday afternoon

About an hour before the decision, Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole was still justifying a plan to forge ahead with a vote.

'It’s time to put up or shut up,' Cole told DailyMail.com.

The vote had been set for Thursday, but was rescheduled when the bill's nuts and bolts became a tougher and tougher sell for both moderates and right-wingers.

Trump had threatened that the Friday vote would be their only chance. But when the dust settled he seemed willing to see a new plan take shape.

'I guess I'm here, what? Sixty-four days?' he asked reporters

'I never said repeal it and replace it within 64 days. I have a long time.'

The short-lived Republican plan to forge ahead was a high-risk proposition that the president was demanding – underlined with a threat that if they didn't take the Obamacare vote Friday, he would leave the the plan in place, despite Trump and congressional Republicans having run against it.

More moderate Republicans had been peeling away from the bill Friday, a sign they were wary to be tagged as backing the effort, which had been brought to the right in an effort to bring on board conservative members. Among the recent changes was taking away a list of health conditions that health plans must cover.

The White House kept up a drumbeat of pressure. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at his afternoon briefing the House would vote Friday afternoon on the bill, even as he offered no assurances it would pass and admonished reporters for presuming the bill would go down.

He said this week it was the only 'train leaving the station' and that there was no 'Plan B.'

Trump's health care plan was on the verge of collapse Friday as dozens of Republicans say they will not vote for a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare on Friday afternoon.

Trump was 'working the phones,' Spicer said, adding: 'He's left everything on the field when it comes to this bill.'

Even as he spoke, House Speaker Paul Ryan was delivering the bad news to Trump, having rushed to the White House to meet with the president.

'WE'LL HAVE TO SEE': President Trump shrugged when he got asked a question about what happens if the bill fails, with a vote set for Friday afternoon

Despite all the pressure and another night to let last-minute changes to the bill sink in, more than 30 Republicans were registering opposition.

Spicer was fatalistic in his comments in advance of a vote he said was likely at 3:30 pm in the Capitol. 'We had this opportunity to change the trajectory ... The question is, do members realize this opportunity?' he asked.

'We continue to pick up votes,' he said. He said by the White House count 120 members had gotten phone calls, personal contact, or White House meetings.

'You guys are so negative!' he said, when asked whether there was consideration of pulling the bill.

When a reporter asked what was the purpose of holding a vote if the bill might go down, Spicer responded: 'I'm just not going to discuss that strategy.'

'He's left everything on the field when it comes to this bill,' White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, referencing President Trump's efforts to pass an Obamacare repeal, having earlier touted his skills as a 'closer'

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) departs from the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump

Even the promotion-savvy president wouldn't proclaim victory. 'We'll have to see,' he said, asked Friday whether the bill would pass.

Spicer said this week that he 'absolutely' embraces Trump's role as the 'closer' who would get a deal done.

He said Friday: 'Every Republican with the exception of probably a handful has campaigned from dogcatcher on up that they would do everything they could to repeal and replace Obamacare. I think to get in and say, 'Hey, you should have done something else' wouldn't be fair to the American people who said, 'Okay, I'll vote for you, but I want you to fulfill this pledge.'

He continued: 'Like I said earlier, you can't force someone to vote a certain way ... Has he done every single thing, has he pulled out every stop, has he called every member, has he tweaked every tweak, has he done every single thing he can possibly and used every minute of every day to get this thing through? Then the answer is yes. Has the team put everything out there? Have we left everything on the field? Absolutely.'

'WE'LL HAVE TO SEE': President Trump shrugged when he got asked a question about what happens if the bill fails, with a vote set for Friday afternoon

CHECK IF YOUR PARKING BRAKE'S STILL ON: House leaders yanked the Obamacare repeal and replacement off the floor voting schedule Thursday after a White House meeting and concessions to conservatives failed to deliver support – with dozens still in oppositon

'But at the end of the day this isn't a dictatorship, and we've got to expect members to ultimately vote, you know, how they will, according to what they think. But as the president made clear, they're the ones who have to go back and answer to their constituents why they didn't fulfill a pledge that they made.'

Hours after the White House brought down the hammer and demanded a Friday vote on the bill, a block of conservative Freedom Caucus members had yet to back the bill, while more centrist Republicans were backing away because of last minute changes that stripped away Obamacare's 'essential health benefits' requirements for conditions insurance companies must cover.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), a Freedom Caucus member who backs the bill, said it could still pass if three-quarters of undecided members decided to vote for it.

'If it fails, it's not going to be the president that's blamed. It's not going to be the moderates. It's going to be the conservatives,' he told DailyMail.com.

The president is already being urged to take names of those who defy him. White House chief strategist Steve Bannon 'has told the president to keep a s*** list on this,' an official told The Daily Beast.

'Some of our moderates who are saying "I'm in a swing state and if I vote yes, I'm not coming back" – I've said, "If this doesn't pass, I know you're not coming back",' said New York Rep Chris Collins, a Trump loyalist.

Only 17 per cent of Americans backed the bill in a Thursday Quinnipiac University poll.

Trump blasted right-wing House Freedom Caucus members on Friday morning for standing in the way of his Obamacare replacement legislation, after warning them Thursday night that they would have just one day to vote on the bill.

'After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan!' Trump wrote on Twitter.

Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for former president Obama, said he had 'no comment' on the situation after Ryan declared that the architects of Obamacare must be pleased.