Newsletter: Essential Politics: Get ready for California vs. Donald Trump

As returning and freshly elected California lawmakers prepare to be sworn in for the next legislative session, many of their priorities are overshadowed by President-elect Donald Trump. There will be a clear focus in Sacramento on Monday on the incoming commander-in-chief and how California might fit into his administration.

I’m Christina Bellantoni. Welcome to Monday’s edition of Essential Politics.

We’ll return to California in a moment, but first we examine how the Trump transition is still making some people uncomfortable when it comes to his role on the global stage.

TRACKING THE TRANSITION

His surprise phone call with Taiwan’s president last week left many in China reeling over a perceived assault on the country’s sovereignty and questioning their assumptions about America’s future leader.

In fact, no president or president-elect is believed to have spoken directly with a Taiwanese leader since the United States recognized the mainland government and cut ties with Taiwan in 1979.

On Sunday, he followed that up with tweets taking more pokes at China.

Tracy Wilkinson notes that in a series of telephone calls with foreign leaders apparently eager to congratulate him, Trump has broken many of the rules that govern delicate matters of international relations, leaving State Department diplomats shocked and confused.

At this weekend’s Reagan National Defense Forum, there was praise for Trump’s promise to increase military spending, and his selection of James N. Mattis, who retired as a Marine Corps general in 2013, to be his Defense secretary.

But attendees at the California event in its fourth year were much more muted when it came to talking about the president-elect himself. Panel discussions centered on security threats from Russia, North Korea and Islamic State, as well as cyberattacks and the strength of U.S. forces.

It was a relatively quiet weekend on the domestic front, but Trump on Sunday doubled down on his threat against U.S. businesses that send jobs abroad, saying he would impose a 35% tariff on goods produced overseas as he encouraged businesses to consider looking for better deals by moving state to state.

Get the latest about the Trump transition on Trail Guide and follow @latimespolitics.

TRUMP SAYS ‘THANK YOU’

Trump’s rallies were the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, and he doesn’t want to give them up now that he’s won. The president-elect was in Ohio on Thursday for the first of several events on what his transition team has called a “thank you tour.” Chris Megerian reports that it had all the hallmarks of a high-octane campaign event, including “lock her up” chants about Hillary Clinton.

CALIFORNIA WILL HAVE A NEW TOP LAWYER

Gov. Jerry Brown picked House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) as the state’s next attorney general Thursday, in a move that sets Becerra up as the frontline of California’s expected pushback on Trump’s policies.

Sarah Wire was first with the scoop on Brown’s choice, which took many in the political world by surprise. Becerra’s name wasn’t among those being speculated for the job, and even Becerra seemed taken aback.

She and Sacramento bureau chief John Myers report that Brown had to rush the decision because Becerra announced Tuesday he wanted to be chosen as the highest-ranking Democrat on the powerful tax writing committee, House Ways and Means.

Several Los Angeles politicians have already said they are considering bids to replace Becerra in the 34th District, where he has held the seat for 24 years.

Despite his new role, Becerra did not rule out a possible run for another statewide office when he spoke to “Meet the Press” and sidestepped a question about whether he would consider a run for governor or U.S. Senate in 2018.

Myers leads an in-depth discussion on the political impact of the Becerra pick on this week’s California Politics Podcast.

Track what happens next on our Essential Politics news feed.

CALIFORNIA VS. TRUMP

When lawmakers arrive at the Capitol in Sacramento on Monday, they will see strengthened Democratic numbers — a supermajority in both chambers. It will be no surprise that in the nearly one month since Trump won the presidency, Democrats have geared up to challenge him on a number of fronts.

We expect legislative leaders to talk about the Trump agenda and how California will respond to it, and to roll out legislation helping people fight deportation proceedings if they are in the country illegally.

We’ll be tracking it all in real-time here, and we have several previews from the last week:

-- More than two dozen returning and new Democratic members of the California Senate asked President Obama to enact a ban on new oil drilling off the state’s coast.

-- California Democrats, including Senator-elect Kamala Harris, joined in on a social media campaign to “Save DACA,” urging Trump to reconsider his plan to halt Obama’s Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals program, which put off deportations for young people who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children.

-- Activists who have been celebrating the passage of Proposition 64 now fear a pot battle with Trump’s pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions. And state Treasurer John Chiang appointed a working group to figure out how to address problems caused by the unwillingness of federally regulated banks to handle money from pot businesses. He also sent a letter to Trump and members of California’s congressional delegation seeking guidance in finding a solution.

POLITICAL ROAD MAP: LOBBYISTS AWAIT LAWMAKERS IN SACRAMENTO

The biggest welcoming party in Sacramento at the official beginning of the Legislature’s new two-year session is made of professional lobbyists, the self-described “third house” of the legislative branch of government.

Myers’ Political Road Map column offers a snapshot of just how big the lobbying game is in terms of dollars spent, and just how much (or little) transparency there is for the public in knowing who’s seeking to influence what.

TACKLING BAIL REFORM

California lawmakers are gearing up to tackle what they say will be one of the most significant and challenging battles in the 2017 legislative session: reforming the system through which judges award bail to criminal defendants. Jazmine Ulloa reports that Assemblyman Rob Bonta and Sen. Bob Hertzberg plan to set the stage Monday, when they file bills stating the Legislature’s intent to enact laws that will reduce the jail population and address racial and economic disparities in the process.

Bail reform legislation has failed in California in the past, largely due to heavy opposition from bondsmen and insurance companies. But debate over the issue has brewed nationwide in the past two years, and Bonta and Hertzberg said they have energy and a broad, bipartisan coalition of organizations and lawmakers on their side.

CALIFORNIA’S NEW MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PREPARE

Lou Correa, Orange County’s newest congressman, was born in East Los Angeles but spent several years of his childhood in Mexico. Christine Mai-Duc reports that when he came to the United States, he didn’t speak English and his family scraped by in an Anaheim neighborhood for years. Correa says he plans to help “educate” Republicans and other colleagues about the immigrant experience, and to fight potential deportations under a Trump presidency.

Wire also looks at what preparing to be sworn in to Congress looks like as she followed the six incoming California freshmen through their orientation in Washington.

REFLECTING ON PEARL HARBOR

The 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor arrives this week, a reminder of a time in the U.S. that was brought out anxieties, the best and worst in people — and greatness, as Americans banded together, George Skelton writes in his Monday column. It will mark the passing of an era, as many survivors are in their 90s and older, says Skelton, who recalls the moment he heard about the attack as a 4-year-old child in Santa Barbara.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- Trump nominated retired neurosurgeon and his campaign rival Ben Carson to become the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

-- A union representing some 95,000 state workers called off plans for a one-day strike, saying that it has “found a pathway forward” in contract negotiations with the Brown administration.

-- In a 98-96 vote, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier) was elected the next vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus on Wednesday over fellow Californian Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), making her the first Latina to ever serve in House leadership.

-- State lawmakers called on Becerra to keep up the longstanding investigation into alleged misconduct in the California Public Utilities Commission when he takes office.

-- Harrison Ford, George Takei and Isabel Allende were among honorees to walk the red carpet Wednesday before their formal induction into the California Hall of Fame at the California Museum in Sacramento.

-- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke to a sold-out crowd in a Glendale theater last week, warning that the Democratic Party “cannot be the party of the liberal elite.” In a wide-ranging discussion with comedian Sarah Silverman, Sanders warned that it would be a “mistake” to assume those who voted for Trump are all “racists, sexists and homophobes.”

-- Protesters at Standing Rock won a victory Sunday as the Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit for the Dakota Access pipeline to cross under a section of the Missouri River.

-- “Before the election, I didn’t worry about this for my kids. Now that he’s elected, it feels different.” David Montero offers a window into how Latinos in Idaho are feeling about the incoming president.

-- Greta van Susteren has some things to say about fake news.

-- Former Sen. Scott Brown won a surprising ally in his quest to become Trump’s Veterans Affairs secretary: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

-- Trump’s newly selected Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has resigned from his board position at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

-- Speaker Paul D. Ryan gave few hints about what Trump’s immigration policy will look like while saying congressional Republicans were ready to work with the president-elect.

LOGISTICS — AND SOME CHANGES

You may have noticed we’ve shifted to a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. It will be the same great newsletter, just not every day. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?

Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox.