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If President Trump is afraid of the headache new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is about to give him, he should say the first prayer of his life and thank God it’s her, not him, who has to deal with the incoming House Democrat freshmen.

The Washington Post over the last few days has done magnificent reporting on the political cramps Democrats are suffering before the new Congress is even sworn in.

The paper said Wednesday that Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Rep-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York were both already set to vote against new House rules drafted by Pelosi. The sticking point is the “PAYGO” rule, which aims to offset any new expenditure bills with either tax increases or cuts to spending elsewhere.

“This is in no way a vote against the leadership; this is a vote against austerity economics that has caused great harm to middle-class and working families,” Khanna told the Post.

Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter called PAYGO “a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress on healthcare [and other legislation].”

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill also on Twitter directly contradicted Khanna, insisting that the PAYGO rule is embedded in concrete law and that it cannot be replaced only by a rule change.

But that isn’t even Democrats’ most contentious issue. The reinitiating of a climate panel, named the “Select Committee on the Climate Crisis,” has further divided the new left-wing of the party from more established Democrats.

Pelosi created the committee at the apparent urging of new members who insist that a priority should be an expansive “Green New Deal” intended to

cripple
transform the economy and lower carbon emissions. Oh, and it would also be expected to address every other Democratic issue, including “social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice and equality,” according to a proposal drafted by incoming freshman Ocasio-Cortez.

But Pelosi smacked down any high hopes that Ocasio-Cortez and co. had by making at the committee more symbolic than useful. She stripped it of any power to move legislation or subpoena testimony.

To top it off, Pelosi appointed Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., to chair the paper tiger, who all but put out a cigarette on advocates for the Green New Deal. “I think they have some terrific ideas … but that’s not going to be our sole focus,” Castor told the E&E News, an environment and energy publication.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., was picked to helm the Energy and Commerce Committee and he, too, dismissed the ambitions of the cute Democrats as though they were on a field trip. “The Green New Deal says you can [eliminate fossil fuels] in 10 years,” he told the Asbury Park Press last month. “I don’t know if that’s technologically feasible. … Beyond that it’s probably not politically feasible.”

When the new Democrats start making demands that go unaddressed for weeks, then months, or even a year, what then?

Seemingly in anticipation of that, Pelosi’s new rules nixed an old rule that allowed any member at all to force a vote on ousting her from power. That’s not something you do when you’re confident that you don’t have to.

Democrats are in control of the House. But their party is showing signs of being in chaos. And the fight for the Democratic 2020 nomination hasn’t even started.