“This is a revolutionary threat,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said of climate change. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo Energy & Environment California governor says he didn't convince Trump on climate change

California Gov. Jerry Brown said he was unsuccessful in attempting to explain the perils of climate change to President Donald Trump during his November visit to the state to survey damage from devastating wildfires.

“No, I don't think I did,” Brown, a Democrat, told host Chuck Todd during a pre-taped interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” noting that he was grateful for the president’s trip and authorization of emergency disaster assistance.


“I would say, he is very convinced of his position,” Brown said of Trump. “And his position is that there's nothing abnormal about the fires in California or the rising sea level or all the other incidents of climate change.”

Brown, who exits office in January and will be replaced by Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, also said he did not do enough to combat climate change while in office.

“No, not enough, not even close, and not close in California, and we're doing more than anybody else, and not close in America or the rest of the world,” Brown said.

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“This is a revolutionary threat,” he added. “And we've got to get off this idea, it's the economy, stupid. No, it's the environment. It's the ecology that we have to get on the side of. And we only do that with wisdom, with investment, and widespread collaboration and working together.”

The president was widely mocked following his California visit for suggesting that “raking” could have helped prevent the proliferation of wildfires in the state.

“You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it’s a whole different story,” Trump said, standing alongside Brown and Newsom among the charred ruins of the Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park in Paradise — a northern California town ravaged by the lethal Camp Fire.

“I was with the president of Finland, and he said, ‘We have a much different — we’re a forest nation.’ He called it a forest nation,” Trump continued. “And they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don’t have any problem. And when it is, it’s a very small problem. So I know everybody’s looking at that to that end. And it’s going to work out, it’s going to work out well.”

But President Sauli Niinistö of Finland told Ilta-Sanomat, the country’s second-largest newspaper, the next day that he never discussed raking with Trump, and Finns soon took to Twitter to post videos, pictures and memes accompanied by the hashtag #haravointi. The word "haravointi" translates from Finnish to English as “raking.”