Pelosi brings class back to Capitol

praised her political skills and refrained from hanging one of his putdown nicknames on her.

That could be because he knows Pelosi is as clever as he is in delivering a message and that she has withstood the test of time.

It tells me that the guy is not all dumb.

Messaging: President Trump was at his Tony Soprano best when talking about the exit of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at his Cabinet meeting the other day.

“I wish him well. I hope he does well. But, as you know, President Obama fired him and essentially so did I,” Trump said.

Never mind that Mattis had resigned as head of Central Command under Obama and that he quit Trump as well. With Trump, it’s all about Trump getting the last word.

“What’s he done for me?” the president asked. “How has he done in Afghanistan? Not too good. Not too good. I’m not happy with what he’s done in Afghanistan, and I shouldn’t be happy,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, his Cabinet members sat in silence, probably wondering, “Is this going to happen to me?”

Which, come to think of it, was probably the message “Don Trump” was sending.

DiFi’s friend: California Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced her support for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.

Not a surprise to me. Feinstein and Biden have been good friends for years.

In fact, there are a lot of California Democrats, including some very heavyweight fundraisers, who are waiting to see if Biden enters the race.

Bay Area’s best: So many swearing-ins Monday in Sacramento, and so many local connections.

There’s San Francisco’s own Betty Yee (controller), the East Bay’s Tony Thurmond (superintendent of public instruction), San Francisco residents Eleni Kounalakis,

Malia Cohen and Fiona Ma (lieutenant governor, Board of Equalization member, treasurer), and of course Gov.-tobe Gavin Newsom, formerly of San Francisco and now of Marin County.

Does it seem like we are electorally greedy? No — it says the Bay Area not only has an abundance of talent, we have an overabundance of people who actually get out and vote.

Then and now: The change of gubernatorial administrations brings back one of my favorite stories from Jerry Brown’s first exit as governor.

Brown was in his office reminiscing with his good friend Jeremiah Hallisey on the final night of his term in January 1983. George Deukmejian was to be sworn in the