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This resistance isn't broadcast, yet it might possess webbed feet and bulging eyes.

Additionally, it could include a unicorn's horn or a chicken's feathers.

While demonstrations against the leadership persist in American cities, participants are adopting the energy of a local block party. They've offered salsa lessons, handed out treats, and performed on unicycles, as police watch.

Mixing humour and politics – a strategy experts call "tactical frivolity" – has historical precedent. Yet it has transformed into a defining feature of US demonstrations in recent years, used by various groups.

One particular emblem has emerged as especially powerful – the frog. It started after a video of an encounter between a man in an amphibian costume and ICE agents in the city of Portland, spread online. From there, it proliferated to protests across the country.

"There is much happening with that little blow-up amphibian," notes LM Bogad, a professor at UC Davis and a Guggenheim Fellow who studies political performance.

From Pepe to Portland

It is difficult to talk about protests and frogs without mentioning Pepe, a cartoon character co-opted by online communities during a political race.

As the character gained popularity online, people used it to signal specific feelings. Subsequently, it was deployed to endorse a political figure, including a particular image endorsed by the candidate personally, depicting Pepe with a signature suit and hair.

The frog was also portrayed in right-wing online communities in more extreme scenarios, as a hate group member. Online conservatives exchanged "unique frog images" and set up cryptocurrency in his name. Its famous line, "feels good, man", became a coded signal.

Yet its beginnings were not this divisive.

Matt Furie, the illustrator, has been vocal about his disapproval for its appropriation. The character was intended as simply an apolitical figure in this artist's universe.

The frog first appeared in an online comic in 2005 – non-political and famous for a quirky behavior. In a documentary, which documents Mr Furie's efforts to reclaim ownership of his creation, he explained his drawing was inspired by his life with companions.

As he started out, Mr Furie tried sharing his art to new websites, where the community began to borrow, remix and reinvent his character. As Pepe spread into fringe areas of online spaces, Mr Furie tried to disavow his creation, even killing him off in a comic strip.

But Pepe lived on.

"This demonstrates that we don't control symbols," explains Prof Bogad. "Their meaning can evolve and be reclaimed."

Previously, the popularity of Pepe meant that amphibian imagery became a symbol for the right. This shifted recently, when an incident between a protestor wearing an inflatable frog costume and an immigration officer in Portland, Oregon spread rapidly online.

This incident occurred shortly after an order to send the National Guard to Portland, which was called "a warzone". Demonstrators began to congregate on a single block, just outside of an ICE office.

Emotions ran high and an immigration officer deployed pepper spray at a protester, directing it into the opening of the puffy frog costume.

Seth Todd, Seth Todd, responded with a joke, remarking he had tasted "something milder". Yet the footage went viral.

The costume was not too unusual for the city, famous for its quirky culture and activist demonstrations that revel in the ridiculous – public yoga, retro fitness classes, and nude cycling groups. A local saying is "Keep Portland Weird."

This symbol became part of in the ensuing legal battle between the administration and the city, which argued the deployment overstepped authority.

While the court ruled in October that the administration was within its rights to deploy troops, one judge dissented, noting in her opinion demonstrators' "known tendency for donning inflatable costumes while voicing opposition."

"It is easy to see the majority's ruling, which adopts the government's characterization as a war zone, as simply ridiculous," the dissenting judge opined. "However, this ruling goes beyond absurdity."

The action was stopped legally subsequently, and personnel are said to have left the city.

But by then, the amphibian costume had become a potent protest icon for the left.

The costume appeared in many cities at anti-authoritarian protests last autumn. Amphibian costumes were present – and unicorns and axolotls and dinosaurs – in San Diego and Atlanta and Boston. They were in small towns and big international cities abroad.

The frog costume was in high demand on online retailers, and saw its cost increase.

Shaping the Narrative

What connects the two amphibian symbols – lies in the dynamic between the humorous, benign cartoon and underlying political significance. Experts call this "tactical frivolity."

The strategy relies on what Mr Bogad calls the "irresistible image" – often silly, it's a "appealing and non-threatening" act that highlights a message without needing directly articulating them. This is the silly outfit used, or the symbol you share.

Mr Bogad is an analyst in the subject and an experienced participant. He authored a text on the subject, and led seminars internationally.

"One can look back to the Middle Ages – when people are dominated, they use absurdity to express dissent a little bit and still have a layer of protection."

The purpose of such tactics is multi-faceted, Mr Bogad explains.

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