I figured out the issue.
In that link the error message provided, it said: "you can't have a file named tkinter.py" which is what I had called my file.
So I deleted it but it still didn't work. I reinstalled python twice and and then I couldn't even open the IDLE anymore and I kept getting the same error.
Then I kept re-reading the web page in that link and it said "you should RENAME the file if they are the same".
Well I had already deleted it, so whatever.... yet I still couldn't even open the Python IDLE. But on a whim I decided to restore it from the recycle bin and , rename it and on my third install of python, it worked. I could open the IDLE and my gui came up. Yay...
I'm guessing that even though I had deleted it, I hadn't cleared the recycle bin, so even though it didn't appear in the folder it was still there in a ghost form. I guess.
And since I renamed it and my third install worked that seems to be the reason. And now finally the GUI comes up.
Maybe clearing the recycle bin would have also worked.