The year 2015 brought tectonic changes in several areas of our lives that the media has totally ignored or under-reported.  Too often media, both left and right, only talk to people who view the world from the same prism as they do.

The same argument can be made about the political establishment from both parties.  There is a total disconnect between the establishment of both parties and their respective bases.  This disconnect is personified in the presidential candidacies of both businessman Donald Trump and Independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

To this end, the Republican establishment is by far the biggest loser of 2015.

They told Republican voters that if they raised and contributed money to help them gain control of congress, they would shrink the size of government, defund Obama’s amnesty for illegals, and stop these trade deals that would subjugate America’s sovereignty to international organizations.

We helped Republicans to gain control of congress and then they quickly began to do the moonwalk on every issue they promised us they would fight for.

Then along comes Donald Trump launching his presidential campaign based on all the promises the Republican congress made and broke.  The Republican congress created Donald Trump’s candidacy.

Now the same Republican establishment that created Trump is actively trying to destroy and sabotage his campaign.  Message to the establishment:  Trump is not the problem.  Republican voters don’t want amnesty for illegals, they don’t want increased debt ceilings, they don’t want more H1-B visas, they don’t want all these trade deals, they don’t want more continuing resolutions (CRs); and they don’t want omnibus budget bills passed, just to name a few.

However impolitic you may think Trump’s verbiage is; he makes voters believe he is sincere in what he says.  He projects strength and leadership and has proven that he is willing to take it hard to Bill & Hillary Clinton.

Trump has the uncanny ability to connect with the average voter and tap into what they are feeling at any given moment.  Most of the other candidates wait on polls to tell them what to think and what to believe; but Trump somehow always seems to just instinctively know what is going on within the electorate.

If the establishment would spend more time fighting for the values that they campaigned on; there would be no Trump candidacy.

Trump is totally rewriting the playbook on how to run for president.  He is the only candidate to actively engage with the Black community in any meaningful way during the primary.  He has even gone so far as to hire Blacks and then put them on TV representing his campaign.  WOW, what a novel thought!

Because of Trump’s business background, I think he understands that the Black community is open to a message of economic empowerment; I think he understands how to penetrate or create a new market, i.e. the Black vote.

Most of the other candidates are too busy listening to their pollsters and other establishment figures tell them that going after the Black vote is a waste of time.

As I have written repeatedly, Blacks are looking for the Republican Party to give them a reason to vote for them, but only Trump has even remotely began to see this possibility.

Republicans have absolutely no idea of the chasm that exists between Blacks and Hillary Clinton.  She doesn’t have the connection to Blacks like Bill Clinton and to a lesser extent, Barak Obama.

She will attempt to scare Blacks into voting for her by telling them that Republicans are racists, etc., etc., etc.  She will also pay Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to do their dirty work for her.

Hillary has no substantive track record to take to the Black community.  She shows up for all the right symbolic events in the Black community, but has done nothing of any substance.

She insults the Black community by equating homosexual entitlements to Civil Rights.  She supports amnesty for illegals though everyone knows it will devastate the Black community.

The real sign of what these Republican presidential candidates think about the Black vote will be shown in two weeks when the nation celebrates Martin Luther King’s birthday on January 18.

If a candidate only issues a perfunctory press statement, then you know that campaign is not serious about the Black vote.

Each campaign should do an event on King’s birthday within the Black community and give a major policy speech on their vision for Civil Rights should they become president.

I will be stunned if any campaign does anything substantive on King’s holiday.

In order for any Republican to win the White House, he will have to think outside the box and be able to get at least 15% of the Black vote.

The only person I see willing to invest the time, money and effort to do this is Donald Trump.

Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC is an internationally recognized political consulting, government affairs, and PR firm based in Washington, DC.  Jackson is an internationally recognized radio talk show host and TV commentator.  He has coined the phrase “straticist.”  As a straticist, he has merged strategic planning with public relations.  Visit his website at:  www.raynardjackson.com.