EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
From the skyscrapers in New York to the plains of Kansas, Donald Trump created a unique coalition that propelled him back to the White House, making him the first president re-elected after losing the office since Grover Cleveland did it in 1892.
One of his supporters in Seward County wanted to show support for Trump returning to the White House, and he did it through art.
Jeremy Upham built the “Trump Train in Kismet, and the attention-getting political statement may have been a premonition to the actual outcome. Trump won Seward County with 69 percent of the vote.
“I’ve always enjoyed art and making things from reclaimed repurposed materials,” Upham said. “I remodel houses for a living so I end up with lots of different types of materials.”
What many saw as trash, Upham saw as craft material, another tie to the election after Trump supporters were referred to as “trash” by President Joe Biden.
“It has been amazing to see the landfill materials get turned into pieces that people want to hang in their homes,” Upham said. “I’ve been making these crafts for years from reclaimed repurposed materials but never anything on a large scale.”
Upham started his Trump creation with a hay bale but added corrugated metal, and his imagination took over.
“It was important for me to get the Trump hay bale put all together for the Little World’s Fair in Kismet. With the attention and amount of photos it received I decided to move it to my storage units, Kismet Mini Storage.”
With the additional attention his Trump bale received, he decided to go all out and build the Trump Train.
“It’s all made from reclaimed repurposed materials,” Upham said. “The engine is chugging away with Vance and Trump waving out with how Trump is going to ‘Make America Great Again.’ I’m very much a Trump supporter and believe he is the answer and who we need for America’s next president.”
Trump will be sworn in Jan. 20, 2025.
