title:  Trump Fan Running For Congress Says He Will ‘Make America White Again’
text: For those who think Donald Trump isn t bringing horrible racism out from the depths of the right-wing s closet, there s Rick Tyler, an independent candidate running for office in Tennessee s third Congressional district. He s so worried about the  browning  of America that he s actually running his campaign on taking us back to the 1960s, when there were fewer problems, by making America white again.Yes, that s literally what he wants. He even had campaign billboards put up that said,  Make America White Again,  around Benton, Tenn. Tyler claims that he s got no hatred for people of color. He just wants America to go back to a  1960s, Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver time when there were no break-ins; no violent crime; no mass immigration. Right, there s totally no racism there. We re sure some of his best friends are people of color, too. He thinks that white people are the architects of advanced society, so elevating white people is the best way to  make America great again. He also had a billboard up that was a picture of the White House ringed with Confederate flags, which said,  I have a dream.  For someone who allegedly isn t racist, he certainly enjoys racist sayings and symbols, and implying that people who aren t white are responsible for all our ills today.To co-opt one of the most famous messages from one of the most famous civil rights leaders in American history for his racist agenda is just vile.How does Trump fit into this, besides his rampant, blatant racism? Tyler wrote the following on his website: [T]he Trump phenomenon has and will continue to produce spin off effects and fall out that can be beneficially seized upon by the elect remnant of the God of Scriptures. In our present political season the dominant presence of Donald Trump has served to open us channels of discourse and dialogue that have previously been off limits. His advocacy of a  temporary ban  on Muslim immigration and the construction of a wall on the Southern border have created a climate conducive to conversation relative to the elephant in the living room no one wants to talk about namely, the urgent and vital subject of race. There it is, the hatred and fear of  political correctness  that pervades the thinking of these racists. They believe it s not racist at all to say that race plays a role in America s downfall, and imply that whites are the only race capable of restoring us to our former glory. Nope. It s just  telling it like it is,  and Tyler seems to have embraced that Trumpian mentality wholeheartedly.The signs have been taken down, but Tyler didn t do it. He wants them back up, saying he paid for them to be up through November s election: If I could I d have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District. That would go over just as well as his initial billboards did. Tyler is delusional though. He believes that his signs do reflect the feelings of a majority of people, despite the people from Tennessee s third district calling into WCRB-TV to say that their county does not, in fact, feel this way. The billboards were likely removed because those people Tyler thinks are so supportive of his views were actually upset.Featured image via screen capture from WRCB report