In researching my article “Donald Trump Vs. Adam Smith,” I came across Michael Dukakis’s speech to Moog Automotive, an auto parts firm near St. Louis. What I found striking is the uncanny resemblance between Dukakis’s and Donald Trump’s views on foreign trade and even on making American great again. Thus the title of this post.

Here’s the segment on C-SPAN. Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt warms them up with his economic nationalism and then Dukakis continues the message.

Some highlights:

8:20: Gephardt wants an aggressive trade policy.

12:10: Gephardt wants to “Make America #1 Again.”

13:30: Dukakis wants to “Make America #1 Again.”

19:00: Dukakis says the president is commander in chief of the battle for America’s future. (Lawyer Dukakis must have been dozing the day they taught separation of powers in his Con Law class at the Harvard Law School.)

20:10: Dukakis decries the fact that so few consumer electronics are produced in America any more.

20:45: Dukakis decries the shift early in the Reagan administration from a trade surplus to a trade deficit.

21:50: Dukakis decries the fact that foreign owners are buying up America. Here’s where he made his gaffe, not understanding that the people he was talking to worked for a foreign-owned firm.

27:00: Dukakis insists that the U.S. open its borders only to those who open their borders to us.