We speak with former California Governor Jerry Brown on the week President Trump visited California to discuss the wildfire situation with Governor Gavin Newsom.
Brown agrees with President Trump that forest management is an issue, but he places the responsibility for overseeing that management at the feet of the President.
“It’s his forests, California only owns 3% of the forests… Mr. Trump is the foremost forest manager under his legal responsibility,” Brown argued. “Having said all that, what do we need to do? We need to thin forests very carefully. We need preventative fires. We need fire fighters, we need helicopters, we need planes. Unfortunately, and tragically, these fires are part of the new normal.”
These preventative efforts, Brown added, are separate from the fight against climate change, a subject which Newsom, and other state leaders, confronted President Trump with on his visit.
Brown praised Newsom’s strategic dealings with the President, saying their relationship since Newsroom took office in 2019 has resulted in billions of federal funding to California. However, Brown hinted he may have handled the situation somewhat differently were he trying to convince the President on the dangers of climate change.
“I was in that opportunity, and I didn’t even say as much as Gavin, and I’ll tell you why, I don’t think [Trump’s] open to this,” Brown said. “This is a topic that he’s heard, he’s a very political, strategic guy, and he has decided that denying climate, repealing 50 different policies on the environment that President Obama put in, will stimulate his base, this is part of his strategy.”
With the fires burning, and California seeing a number of record temperatures in recent weeks, we asked Brown what “radical changes” he would recommend to slow, or reverse, the effects of climate change.
“You can’t prevent it in the short term, because we can’t stop dumping all the CO2, and methane, and other chemicals into the environment,” Brown cautioned, adding that the best hope is to slow down emissions, working towards zero, or net-zero emissions, within the next 25 years, at best.
To help in that effort, Brown proposed a mandate of zero-emission vehicles, an increased price on cap-and-trade, and continued low-carbon fuel standards, at least in a way that doesn’t cause “voters to revolt on you.”
The discussion wrapped with a game of “Personal Issues,” a rapid-fire personality game to get to know Brown better after nearly 50 decades in public service.
Among the personal favorites and preferences Brown revealed were the fact his favorite movie is Casablanca, his favorite meal is a bean, rice, and cheese burrito, his favorite singer is Linda Ronstadt, who Brown dated in the 1970s, and the best thing about being a Californian is “living in Colusa County with the coyotes and rattle snakes.”
"The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson" is California's only statewide political show. Watch episodes at TheIssueIsShow.com
