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.
Last night on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel tossed to a "special report" from Illinois Gov. 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."
The dress-up "dismantles their narrative a little bit," Jack Dickinson, a.k.a. 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."
Conservative journalist Andy Ngo pushed back overnight by claiming the costumes in Portland "serve the function of masking the violent extremism to make the direct action appear like a family-friendly gathering on camera, and to whitewash the past ultraviolence."
So, as always, it comes down to which videos and posts people choose to believe.
