Politics

Here’s why Mike Dukakis is really enjoying Donald Trump’s campaign

With a Trump impression, too.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is now winning plaudits from Mike Dukakis. Rich Schultz / AP

Mike Dukakis, the three-time Massachusetts governor and lifetime Democrat, isn’t your typical Donald Trump supporter.

But he’s enjoying the business magnate’s loose-lipped style for the same reason Republican primary voters are fond of him: Trump speaks his mind.

Dukakis explained that fondness for Trump to New York magazine’s Marin Cogan:

“Since he hasn’t mortgaged his soul to one of the seven billionaires that finance these campaigns, he’s free to say things that the rest of them won’t. Like, for example, that carried interest is nothing but income and should be taxed.’’ He jumps into a Trump impression: “‘And don’t you worry, I’ll take care of these hedge-fund guys!’ And then you get Jeb Bush saying the same thing, which is remarkable.’’

Dukakis is referring here to the carried-interest loophole, a tax quirk that allows money managers to pay lower taxes on some income. Trump’s criticism of the loophole on the campaign trail has spurred a bipartisan push to end that benefit, including from Jeb Bush.

Yet despite his praise for Trump, Dukakis is firmly in Hillary Clinton’s corner for 2016.

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So now to the key question: How was Dukakis’s Trump impression?

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Gallery: Scenes from Donald Trump’s rally at Ernie Boch Jr.’s home.

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