Tyler first attracted significant media attention in 2016 when he erected a billboard that read "Make America White Again" when running for the United States House of Representatives as an independent.

[6] Rick Tyler ran as an independent in Tennessee's 3rd congressional district in 2016, a seat which has been held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann since 2011.

During his campaign, Tyler erected a billboard that said "Make America White Again" along U.S. Route 411 near Ocoee, Tennessee, an unincorporated community in Polk County.

[7] Tyler claimed that the billboard was not intended to be racist, and that he has no hatred or dislike for racial and ethnic minorities, but rather believes that the United States should remain majority white.

[9] He claimed that the purpose of the billboard was a reflection of his desire for the United States to return to the "1960s, Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver time when there were no break-ins, no violent crime, no mass immigration.

"[9] Tyler also cited Ann Coulter and her book Adios, America as helping to influence his white nationalist views.

[17] During the event, Tyler announced that he is running for President in 2020 on the ticket of the American Freedom Party,[18] a group which advocates for white nationalism.

In the 1990s, Tyler was pastor of the Church of the Remnant in Epworth, Georgia, and hosted a shortwave radio program called the "Voice of Liberty" on WWCR in Nashville, Tennessee.

"[22] In July 2020, Tyler was arrested and charged with tax evasion and property theft after an investigation by the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

[8] Tyler has expressed a belief on multiple occasions that white people should remain the super-majority racial group in the U.S., and a desire for the country to return to 1960s-era demographics.

He has expressed opposition to the Council on Foreign Relations and the Department of Homeland Security and believes that individual states should have the right to secede from the union.