Jerry Brown to GOP Debate: Welcome, ‘Merchants of Destruction’

California Gov. Jerry Brown has a greeting for the GOP Debate on Wednesday: Welcome, “merchants of destruction.” Brown deployed his characteristically acid rhetoric in an interview with Bloomberg, in which he flogged his climate change hobbyhorse and attacked the Republican field for neglecting, or denying the issue.

I would challenge these Republican presidential candidates to speak to what is certainly one of the fundamental issues of our time,” Brown told Bloomberg’s James Nash. “They fancy themselves defenders of life but they actually are willing merchants of destruction. I would like to see them be honest about climate change.”

Brown, who remains a distant possibility as a dark horse candidate on the Democratic Party ticket, said in March that if he were running, climate change would be one of his top three priorities, along with balancing the federal budget and investing in scientific research. Climate change has also been the top priority of his governorship.

Last week, Brown sent a thumb drive with the latest UN climate change studies to GOP contender Ben Carson.

Recently, Brown suffered a setback when moderate Democrats in the California legislature rebelled against his  climate change legislation, fearing that low-income workers would bear the brunt of higher fuel and energy costs.