Rhett and Rick Tyler get political

 Rick Tyler is a thought-provoking conservative Political Analyst for the MSNBC Cable News Network. Whether you agree or disagree, Rick will make you think and re-think your positions. He quickly evaluates the significance of unfolding political events in real time. Eschewing partisan spin, Rick gives his audience an unvarnished analysis of the meaning behind the political posturing. He simply calls balls and strikes without regard to whose team strikes out.

A professional communications strategist, Rick has helped hundreds of candidates prepare for the rigors of campaigning for public office. He firm, Foundry Strategies, specializes in helping their political and corporate clients reach their leadership potential by honing their communications skills.

Rick was in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign serving as the National Spokesperson and Communications Director for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. During Cruz' quest to capture the Republican nomination, Rick correctly assessed the battlefield and devised a strategy to best position Cruz for victory. While other campaigns underestimated Donald Trump, Rick took seriously the challenge of the reality TV star and real estate developer. He advised Cruz on how to effectively handle Trump. That strategy paid off in keeping Cruz a contender until the race was a choice between Trump and Cruz. Trump obviously prevailed but Rick's predictions made during the campaign about a Trump presidency have largely come true: Trump's lack of a coherent ideology or governing philosophy has left the Republican Party unmoored from its foundation and is now at the mercy of the President's ever shifting positions and pronouncements. Rick likes to say he got his "Political Ph.D." working for former Speaker Newt Gingrich for more than a decade serving as Gingrich's advisor and spokesperson.

Rick has always taken an interest in acting and believes that politicians with acting experience have a unique advantage. Politicians professionally trained in acting can dramatically improve their political performance not because they should pretend to be someone else but because like real actors, acting helps politician present their best selves to their audience. Rick became so interested in acting, he began studying the craft, then auditioning for parts to really understand what actors experience. He has appeared in a few background roles in films and commercials and a minor speaking role in Discovery ID's series "Who Killed Jane Doe" playing the coroner in the season two premier episode "The Tent Girl". Rick has not ruled out becoming a major star but in the meantime, he'll keep his day job. Before rising to a nationally known political strategist, Rick cut his political teeth as an executive director for the Maine Republican Party. As lead trainer for GOPAC and trainer for the Leadership Institute, Rick has trained thousands of candidates, citizens and public officials and their staffs in the United States and countries around the world including Canada, Italy, Greece, Japan and Israel to lead successful campaigns for elected office.

Rick has been invited to speak about his political and policy insights by many Conservative, non-partisan and professional groups, committees and state legislative caucuses. He was a guest lecturer at both the Institute for Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Robert J. Dole Institute for Politics at the University of Kansas and has been a guest lecturer at the Global Center for Political Engagement and The George Washington Uni

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