By Raynard
Jackson
Columnist
Donald Trump’s political ascendancy has less to do with him
and more to do with the Republican electorate’s total disillusionment with the
lack of leadership coming from our congressional leadership.
All of a sudden, along comes Donald Trump speaking a language
the Republican base understands—English!
In my view, Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Chris Christie are the
only Republicans that are speaking to the American people in a manner that they
can understand. The rest of the field
speaks in “politicaleeze.”
The American people want someone like a Christie who will
look them straight in the eye and give a direct answer to their
question.
Far too many candidates, both Democrats and Republicans,
spend too much time poll testing and focus grouping everything and every
issue.
This brings me back to Trump. Whatever you think about him, he spoke the
truth about the state of illegal immigration; and yes his language was extremely
hyperbolic and way over the top. Yes, he
could have made the same point without the incendiary language; but nonetheless,
he has caused a tectonic shift in the debate over sanctuary
cities.
Trump has managed to tap into voter angst and their economic
insecurity. So, Republicans should stop
fretting so much about how Trump hurt the feelings of Hispanics and deal with
the issue he has brought to the forefront of the political
landscape.
If our congressional leaders would spend more time promoting
the conservative agenda that they ran on last year versus giving Obama victories
in trade and amnesty, then a person like Trump would have absolutely no
political traction whatsoever.
In many ways, Donald Trump is the Frankenstein that our
congressional leadership has created by their lack of any bold legislative
action that they promised Republican voters during the 2014
elections.
They told the voters last year that if you give them control
of the House and Senate, they would block Obama’s amnesty—they caved; they would
reign in federal spending—they caved; they would pass a strong boarder
enforcement bill—they got amnesia.
Republican leadership thought these issues would just
magically disappear or that the Supreme Court would save them from having to do
their jobs; they were very wrong on both counts.
The next U.S. president will be the candidate who can speak
directly to the American people in very simplistic language about their vision
for the country on issues like immigration, ISIS, the domestic and foreign
economy, values, how to manage the growing diversity of our country,
etc.
So, as opposed to criticizing Trump, shut him up by
addressing the issues he is talking about.
Granted, his answers/solutions are extremely sophomoric; but at least he
is addressing issues the American people care about in a language they
understand.
The same thing can be said about Vermont senator, Bernie
Sanders. You write him off at your own
peril. He is tapping into the same
frustration and disillusionment on the Democratic side that Donald Trump is
tapping into on the Republican side.
It was sad watching Hillary Clinton’s interview with CNN last
week. She is quite good at talking
without saying anything.
But I am getting this same eerie feeling that I got in
2007—2008 when Hillary acted as though winning the Democratic primary was a
foregone conclusion. The amount of
arrogance she and her campaign are showing is astonishing.
Sanders will continue to provide a vigorous challenge to
Hillary from the left and then I expect Vice President Joe Biden to enter the
race because of the disillusionment from their party’s base.
So the takeaway from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is quite
simple. People want to be talked to in a
language that they can understand. They
want specific answers to the problems facing Americans, no more broad, vague,
undecipherable talk.
The American electorate is afraid about their future and
needs and wants a presidential candidate who is going to reassure them that
their future will be alright under their leadership.
Sometimes candidates need to get rid of their pollsters and
just talk to the American people from their hearts about the values and the
vision they have for the country.
So, Donald Trump is not the problem with the Republican
Party; it is the seeming inability of Republicans to connect with the American
people about how they are going to solve the many problems facing America.
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.
