Attempting to Witness History
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Carter Kupper (l) stands with Tom Homan (r), the current border czar under President Trump, at the Faith and Freedom Fall Banquet held last year in Des Moines.
The moment Carter Kupper realized Donald Trump won the election last fall, he started looking at flights and making plans to attend the second inauguration of President Trump. Kupper solidified his travel plans during December, and by early January Kupper had everything lined up to attend the swearing in of the 47th president of the United States.
“I decided to go on my own volition, particularly to support the incoming president and his agenda,” stated Kupper.
Kupper resides in Mount Ayr, and is the current chairman of the Southern Iowa Young Republicans. He knew a few other members of the state chapter planned to go, and didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see Donald Trump sworn in for a second term in office.
“I knew once I was in D.C., it was guaranteed I’d run into somebody I know,” stated Kupper. “The second I got off the Metro on Sunday, I ran into somebody I knew from Leadership Institute, so I hung out in line with him, which was kind of fun,” said Kupper.
Typically, the general public can watch the inauguration take place outdoors on the Capitol steps on January 20. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies makes a limited number of inauguration tickets available to the public through members of Congress. Although tickets are free, it allows a limited number of people to watch the ceremony held at the U.S. Capitol.
“Originally, it was going to be around 200,000 people that were going to converge on the National Mall for his swearing-in,” explained Kupper, “But the Friday before, it was moved indoors, which complicated things a little bit for a lot of the people that wanted to go, unfortunately.”
Freezing temperatures and high winds prompted organizers to move the ceremony indoors to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Normally, thousands of people line the route from the Capitol to the White House, and the president typically passes through the area following the swearing-in ceremony.
Marching bands and other participants from around the country come to Washington to participate.
This year, the Presidential Parade was also moved indoors to the Capital One Arena, which only holds around 20,000 people.
On Sunday, Kupper went to the arena relatively early in the morning, and joined the line of people to get into the arena.
“I’d say, [the line] probably went for a good two miles or so, wrapping around city blocks,” said Kupper. “It was kind of insane.”
He waited in line for a good six hours or so in a mix of freezing rain and snow.
“It was like 40,000 people crammed into a single city block,” explained Kupper. “It was kind of just a mess during those last few hours.”
On Monday, Kupper tried to get into the arena again. But when he got there, everything was barricaded.
“I left the house I was staying at around 4 a.m. to get on the Metro to go into D.C.,” said Kupper.
“There were thousands of other people that were trying to figure out where the line started,” according to Kupper. “When it got to like 7 a.m., I figured it wasn’t going to be worth trying to get in.”
Unfortunately for Kupper and thousands of others, the arena could only accommodate 20,000 people.
“I did not get to see him,” said Kupper. “There were, I’d say, probably 40,000, 50,000 people that tried to get into the arena.”
Carter Kupper pictured in Washington D.C. on January 20, 2025.
So Kupper took the Metro to the National Mall in the Smithsonian area for a walking tour instead. He walked around there at the crack of dawn.
“Nobody else was out there,” said Kupper. “I hung out there for a few hours.”
Kupper did get to see the Capitol and the stage where the inauguration is typically held.
Then, around 10 a.m., he made his way over to the Leadership Institute headquarters in Arlington, VA and attended a watch party there.
“They’re an organization I’ve done work with before,” Kupper explained.
The Leadership Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that focuses primarily on education, and is known for helping people learn more about politics. Their Youth Leadership School (YLS), provides campaign activism training for young leaders who want to become more involved in promoting candidates and causes of their choice. A couple of years ago, Kupper attended a Leadership Institute conference in Honolulu, Hawaii for a week-long boot camp program.
“Basically, they train people how to play politics,” said Kupper. “They’ll keep you up for like two, three days straight, doing schooling and doing different projects.”
The boot camp serves as a simulation of what it’s like being on the campaign trail, in the weeks leading up to election day.
“Usually the candidates and the staffers, they get very little to no sleep at all,” says Kupper.
Kupper has also been to local Republican gatherings where Leadership Institute classes were held to learn about raising money for a campaign, help finance a campaign, and step-by-step instructions on how to go about doing it.
Although Kupper did not get to witness the second inauguration of President Trump in person, he still felt the trip was worth making.
“It was tremendous,” said Kupper “seeing the support for President Trump.”
“It was still cool getting to be there. I saw somebody’s motorcade,” said Kupper. “I didn’t quite know who it was.”
Kupper became interested in politics when he was a senior in high school. He volunteered to help with a local school board campaign. The candidate who was running, Olivia Barnard, was a family friend of theirs.
“That was the first campaign I ever participated in, and she won and got elected,” shared Kupper.
“She, with a stroke of luck, became friends with Donald Trump Jr., and that was kind of her ‘in’ to politics,” shared Kupper. “She’s kind of inspired me in a lot of ways to get involved in stuff,” said Kupper.
After that, Kupper volunteered for local state house races, and became a precinct chair for the Hayes County Republican Party, representing his precinct on the county central committee in TX.
Around that same time, he became part of the Young Republicans, and attended the Young Republican National Convention in Dallas, TX.
In September of 2023, Kupper moved to Mount Ayr, and joined the Ringgold County Republican central committee. He was one of the precinct captains for Trump in Ringgold County.
“I set up the Southern Iowa Young Republicans chapter,” said Kupper. “And I gave a speech for President Trump on behalf of his campaign at the Iowa caucus.”
His future plans include running for the state secretary of the Young Republicans of Iowa at the state convention in May. The state chapter is led by the chairman, a vice chairman and a secretary.
The Iowa Young Republicans exist to recruit young people to participate in an organization, and to volunteer people to support different Republican campaigns, whether it’s local, state, or national.
“We train people, kind of similar to the Leadership Institute, how to play the game of politics,” says Kupper.
The organization not only elects Republican candidates, but young Republican candidates.
Anyone between the ages of 18 to 40 who is registered to vote as Republican is eligible to join the Young Republican organization. Dues are $25 a year, and you can sign up online at www.iowayr.com.
