Gov. Jay Inslee to announce 2020 presidential intentions ‘shortly’

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee said he is close to confirming whether he will launch a 2020 presidential campaign, saying that “the country is ready for an optimistic president. I just may be able to suit that purpose.”

While appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports Monday morning, Inslee came the closest to acknowledging he is running for president. Rumors and hints of such a campaign have lingered  over the past few months. The governor has avoided giving a firm yes or no. Monday’s statement also wasn’t firm, but it was certainly more of an indication than in previous exchanges.

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Host Andrea Mitchell pointed out that Inslee has been making the rounds lately, traveling to Nevada and New Hampshire. So it was put to the governor: why won’t he just officially announce that he is running for president?

“I think you will see some announcement shortly about our intentions,” Inslee said. “And I do believe this moment is ripe. The American people understand that the fires that burned down Paradise, California, the floods, it’s time for action. We can build an economy around clean energy. I’m an optimist by nature, America is an optimist nation. We got to start that effort now.”

“Where I fit in is, I would say that I have a unique position of having a vision and a willingness to say that climate change and our mission to defeat it has to be the number one priority of the next administration,” he said. “This has to be the organizing principle of the United States, so we can build a new clean energy, and build those millions of jobs and I would be the person with executive experience of actually getting that job done.”

“America is ready for this,” he added. “I’ve traveled to these three states. They are being hammered by climate change. Iowa, when I was there, farmers couldn’t get out in the field because it was so wet. So the country is ready for an optimistic president. I just may be able to suit that purpose.”

The governor also pointed to Trump’s record on climate chance in contrast.

“Look, every time it snows, Donald Trump tweets that climate change doesn’t exist,” Inslee said. “What an ignorant position. It seems to me that we need a president of the most intellectually proficient, scientifically literate nation in human history to follow pure science, and understand the difference between weather and climate. He does not.”

Inslee, the wall, and Trump

Inslee also took the opportunity, while on a national stage, to make a few discouraging remarks about President Donald Trump and his emergency declaration to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The president is still living in this Never-never Land and feeding us a bunch of baloney,” he said. “This vanity project of his, and that’s what it is, it’s not a national emergency, it’s a political emergency for him in his failures.”

Inslee further noted that the wall plan has been rejected by both parties, and that there are more pressing needs in the United States than a border wall, such as increasing forest fires and floods.

“We are hopeful the Republicans will stand up in the Senate, and if not, the Supreme Court and our sate will be suing him the moment he tries to take money out of our state,” Inslee said.

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