President Donald Trump on Wednesday encouraged California Governor Jerry Brown to challenge him in 2020 for presidency.
Trump made his remarks during a White House roundtable event in which California law enforcement officials and elected officials discussed the Golden State’s revolt against California’s sanctuary laws for illegal immigrants.
When attendees blasted Brown, who referred to anti-sanctuary politicians as “low-life” politicians, for not meeting with them, Trump said that “somebody said he is going to run for president.”
Trump then enthusiastically said: “Please run!”
As Breitbart News reported, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said on Tuesday that Democrats should consider Brown as a 2020 presidential nominee.
“Don’t forget Jerry Brown. No matter what age you might think Jerry Brown really is, he’s never been through the process of growing old by virtue of hard work,” Brown told Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball. “Jerry Brown is still an entity that the Democratic Party should be looking at. Period.”
Brown and Trump have traded barbs primarily on immigration-related issues in recent months. When Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued California over three of its sanctuary laws, Brown accused the Trump administration of waging “war” against the Golden State. Trump taunted “Moonbeam” Brown at a Michigan rally after Brown sent National Guardsmen to the border but prevented them from engaging in immigration enforcement.
On Wednesday, Brown accused Trump of “lying on immigration” and “lying about crime and lying about the laws of CA.”
“Flying in a dozen Republican politicians to flatter him and praise his reckless policies changes nothing,” Brown tweeted. “We, the citizens of the fifth largest economy in the world, are not impressed.”
At the roundtable event, Escondido Mayor Sam Abed accused Brown of trying to take away the American dreams of law-abiding Californians. Los Alamitos Mayor Pro Tem Warren Kusumoto and San Diego Supervisor Kristin Gaspar blasted Brown for referring to them as “low-life” politicians for opposing the state’s sanctuary laws and prioritizing the rights and concerns of citizens and legal immigrants over illegal immigrants.
“Well, here we are,” Gaspar declared.