Jerry Brown Rips Donald Trump While He Still Can

As the Global Action Climate Summit came to a close today in San Francisco, Governor Jerry Brown made sure not to leave the event without dogging President Trump. During his closing speech, the Governor remarked on several topics including how great it was to meet with several world leaders such as China in order to discuss climate agreements. However, when asked by a reporter how Trump’s involvement, or lack thereof, on climate change and the environment will be remember by historians, Brown answered “A liar, criminal, fool. Pick your choice.”

“When Trump says, in effect, ‘We like more methane going into the air,’ that is highly destructive,” he said. “Very highly destructive.” Brown was referring to a new report from the New York Times about the Trump administration’s plans to cut Obama-era methane emission standards. Methane, a greenhouse gas, is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

For a long time, California has been one of the country’s leaders in environmentalism and is not a state that’s been a friend to the current administration. Just this week, Governor Brown signed SB 100 which will set the state on a path to achieve a zero-carbon footprint by 2045 as well as require all electric utilities in retail and publicly owned spaces to become totally emissions-free by the same year. SB 100 is has been labeled as ‘The Clean Energy Bill’.

The San Francisco summit, according to Mother Jones, “has become an amalgam of the Trump resistance, a climate pep rally, a marker between crucial United Nations deadlines, and a swan song for California’s four-term governor.” The summit has also proved to be a great opportunity for Governor Brown to snag the spotlight only a year after the President pledged to pull the United States from the landmark 2015 Paris climate change pact. The annual pact meeting was meant to curb global carbon emissions; it was Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out only after it was clear the coal mining and American assertion were to be put first.

Despite Trump only being in office for two years, this isn’t the first time Governor Brown has feuded with the President.  The summit meeting has once again ignited a flare, but immigration has been an even bigger dispute. According to CNN, “in early March, the Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state and its top officials to stop a cluster of so-called ‘sanctuary state’ bills. In remarks announcing the suit in Sacramento, Attorney General Jeff Sessions decried officials who support sanctuary city policies as ‘extremists’ promoting ‘open borders.’” Brown responded to Sessions by accusing him of a “political stunt” as well as pardoning 5 criminal illegal aliens.

Jerry Brown has just over 50 days left to attack Trump as the official Governor of California. On November 6^th a new governor will be elected.