What does Trump, political climate mean for policing in America? Column

As presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attempts to gain support among the GOP (we have yet to see whether his recent meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan will become a turning point) the once vigorous political debate that surrounded police brutality has shifted. And it's Trump's growing national reach, more than anything else, that has stymied the conversation.

The self-aggrandizing style that knocked his competitors out of the Republican presidential race — one that focused more on nonsensical attacks that raised Trump's profile than on politically significant issues — is now hitting Democratic candidates (he recently attacked Hillary Clinton, calling her an enabler for being a female victim of a philandering husband). Trump's tactics leave room for little else, especially issues that already hover near the bottom of the Republican agenda — disproportionate levels of black incarceration, police use of force and the implementation of law enforcement policies that encourage officers to think before they act.

After a whirlwind of Black Lives Matter protests, shocking videos and news media attention that garnered some changes at the state level (the Ferguson police force hiring a black police chief after the Justice Department's demand for an overhaul is the latest example), politicians have paid comparatively less attention to the movement. What was once at least an attempt at conversations about policy change has turned into multiple conversations dominated by Trump's policyless agenda.

In 2015, several members of Congress, including Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Democratic Reps. Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver, both of Missouri, pushed bills that would provide funds to police departments for the purchase of body cameras and to improve police training.

But Trump has yet to formally meet with Black Lives Matter. And other Republican candidates who ran for president made little to no effort to formally meet with members either, although DeRay McKesson, a Black Lives Matter protester who made a failed bid for Baltimore mayor, and other activists reached out. And now the movement appears to be without a path to influence Trump.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton at least appears more accessible. Both Clinton and Bernie Sanders have certainly sounded sympathetic to the issues of the movement, and both have met with BLM members. But without specific policy commitments, it's hard to measure how well BLM advocacy has worked. McKesson, Johnetta Elzie, Samuel Sinyangwe and Brittany Packnett created Campaign Zero, a group aligned with the movement objectives of Black Lives Matter, and detailed a comprehensive set of policy goals that cover state and federal regulations regarding policing. The platform answered the criticism that the movement was without a plan, something Clinton implied during a back-stage meeting with BLM organizers after a speaking event. The only thing that's left is to see what Clinton's specific plan is for curbing police violence and dropping incarceration rates, and to see how it will stand up to the unending Trump dialogue. Her backsliding and weak apology at the last Democratic debate for what she now admits was a damaging 1990s crime bill signed by her husband and for her misplaced "superpredator" comment from that same time period didn't help.

Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza joined forces with ColorofChange.org, a political and social activist organization, to challenge the Congressional Black Caucus PAC to separate itself from "companies that benefit from the suffering" of black people. The demand fit perfectly alongside the dialogue of Sanders, who focuses on the problems of money in politics.

What's worse for Black Lives Matter is that a general election campaign could be even less likely to focus on an agenda centered on ending police brutality, as Trump and Clinton compete for the political center. Politicians are contemplating how to reposition themselves if Trump is elected. The candidates should wise up. The country is always one cellphone video away from another round of contentious national protest.

Lauren Victoria Burke is the political editor for Politic365. Reach her on Twitter @LVBurke.