In less than a year, California politician Jerry Brown will close out his political career. But Brown isn’t a member of the Republican Trump retirement club. He’s the Democratic governor of California who will bump up against his term limits after entering California politics more than 40 years ago. With a 28-year gap between the first time he served as the state executive and now, Brown is simultaneously one of youngest governors and currently the oldest.

On this governmentality short, I talk with Andy Kroll, who wrote a profile of Jerry Brown for The California Sunday Magazine. We discussed how pessimism guided Brown's politics, his role as a senior statesman in the Trump era and his uncomfortable relationship with his legacy.

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Guest:

Andy Kroll is an investigative reporter for Mother Jones based in Washington, D.C., and a contributing writer for The California Sunday Magazine. His work has also appeared at Rolling Stone, The New Republic, Huffington Post Highline, and Men’s Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyKroll

Discussed on the show:

• Kroll’s “The Last Days of Jerry Brown” in The California Sunday Magazine

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The governmentality podcast was produced and edited by Michele Zipkin. The show’s music was composed and performed by Jeremy Carlstedt.