Fresh off the release of his latest film “We Ride to DC,” grassroots filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch kicked off his Fighting for America Tour this month, which will bring him to more than 20 cities across the United States.
Addressing tea party, Republican, and veterans groups, Lynch met more than 1,000 Americans throughout Florida last week, and spoke about a wide range of topics affecting the country. His focus, however, was on immigration—the subject of his first two documentaries, “They Come to America” and “They Come to America II.”
The former businessman has two goals in mind for the three-month tour: educate Americans about what’s really going on at the Southwest border and get them fired up.
“First of all, just when you look at immigration, immigration is the number one issue facing America … and yet, even the well-informed tea partier or the well-informed GOP member, they still don’t know all the facts,” he said in an interview with Townhall, pointing to the administration’s inflated deportation numbers and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)’s backing of work visas for illegal immigrants.
When they hear the truth, he said, “they’re baffled.”
After discussing the immigration crisis at the Jupiter, Florida event, Lynch analyzed which possible Republican presidential candidate could really fix the problem. The Palm Beach Tea Party reports:
… Mr. Lynch gave his view of the current crop of candidates. Marco Rubio “will not be re-elected to the Senate”, let alone the Presidency. Chris Christie “is not an effective leader” if he didn’t know about the bridge lane closures, Ted Cruz “will be completely destroyed by the mainstream media who despise him”, Rand Paul has been pandering and opposes voter ID laws, and Ben Carson “does not want the job”, as well as being in favor of full legalization. On the mention of Jeb Bush, his comment was drowned out by the laughter in the room, most of whom oppose our former governor’s views on common core and immigration reform.
While Lynch’s goals for the tour may have only been about educating people and encouraging them to take a stand against the direction this country is heading, many attendees in Florida had another objective: Find out if he will run for president in 2016.
The native New Yorker was first asked this question on Facebook last year. Since his latest film “We Ride to DC” was released, however, it has become a question he fields from his loyal followers daily, he explained.
When Townhall asked YN1 Lauren Price USN (Ret.) whether anyone at the Tampa Bay event she cohosted questioned Lynch about about running, her response was, “everyone did.”
Lynch, for his part, said he’s considering it.
“If people would rally behind me like Ben Carson I would do it because I want the job. I know I could get in there and get things done,” he said. “The reason why Ben Carson, I believe, is asked is because people want somebody who’s outside, they do not want a D.C. insider.”
Aside from being an acclaimed filmmaker and award-winning entrepreneur, it's Lynch’s ability to connect with people of all stars and stripes that has helped garner interest in him as a possible candidate.
“He truly can affect every single person that he talks to,” said Price, who is the cofounder of VeteranWarriors, a veterans advocacy organization. “Dennis does really relate to every single person he speaks to regardless of their walk of life, or income, or gender, race, religion … and that’s what we need in a leader in this nation.”
If he plans to run, Lynch said he's counting on what happened in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, when David Brat, a college economics professor, ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the primary election.
“If I decide to do this, I am 100 percent banking on what happened in that Cantor primary. I am banking on the fact that David can beat Goliath with the real, true message, and without having to have the money bank.”
“I very much want him to run,” Price said. “I’m hoping that it comes down to it, after he’s finished with his tour, that he decides to go ahead with it and surround himself with really strong people that can help make that happen.”