California Gov. Jerry Brown refused invitations to criticize President Donald Trump. Brown wasn’t much interested in talking about who he hopes to replace him next year, either. But as the Democratic governor reflected Wednesday on his final state budget, a document his administration is proposing amid a leftward shift in his party, Brown, 79, leveled with the public about the costs of further expanding popular government programs.

Two political figures could be on the hot seat in California in 2018. One’s a no-brainer: Donald Trump, the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to bypass the Golden State in his first year.

California governor Jerry Brown has been everywhere, preaching the gospel of blue-state California. California wildfires are the curse of climate change, he told 60 Minutes, while he whisks off to yet another climate conference in Paris, warning that the world is on the road to hell.

A year from now, we’ll be preparing to say a last political farewell to Gov. Jerry Brown and his ratio studiorum (plan of studies) for putting California on an even keel.