Protest frogs vs. MAGA media influencers: the info war over ICE in Portland and Chicago

Protest frogs vs. MAGA media influencers

As the Department of Homeland Security floods social media with “propaganda” videos, and pro-Trump commentators flock to Portland and Chicago in search of a “rebellion,” local residents are responding with… chicken suits and clever jokes.

Thursday night on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel tossed to a “special report” from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, “reporting from war-torn Chicago.”

Pritzker, wearing body armor, played a TV reporter in the video clip. “We’ve seen people being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup on them,” the governor quipped.

While Kimmel’s show was airing, a real reporter for The Oregonian was recording a video outside the ICE facility that has long been a magnet for protests in Portland. The topic: “Protest frogs are multiplying.”

The video showcased how Portlanders are wearing inflatable costumes to mock what one of the frog cosplayers called “insane government overreach.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0kt6E6pPkc

The dress-up “dismantles their narrative a little bit,” Jack Dickinson, also known as the “Portland Chicken,” told Willamette Week. “It becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.”

Pritzker and Dickinson have something in common: They’re using the tools at their disposal — smart phone cameras, social media apps and satire — to turn “war” rhetoric into a punchline. “The Daily Show” did it too, with this clip labeled “REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

Cre: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/10/media/portland-frog-costume-chicken-protest-ice-trump-chicago.”