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This resistance may not be televised, yet it might possess amphibious toes and bulging eyes.

It also might feature the horn of a unicorn or a chicken's feathers.

While demonstrations opposing the administration carry on in US cities, protesters are adopting the energy of a neighborhood dress-up party. They have taught salsa lessons, distributed treats, and ridden unicycles, while police watch.

Mixing levity and political action – a tactic experts term "tactical frivolity" – is not new. But it has become a defining feature of protests in the United States in this period, embraced by both left and right.

One particular emblem has proven to be notably significant – the frog. It started after video footage of a confrontation between a protester in an amphibian costume and immigration enforcement agents in the city of Portland, spread online. It subsequently appeared to protests across the country.

"There's a lot at play with that little blow-up amphibian," states LM Bogad, who teaches at UC Davis and a Guggenheim Fellow who focuses on performance art.

From Pepe to the Streets of Portland

It is difficult to discuss demonstrations and amphibians without talking about Pepe, an illustrated figure co-opted by extremist movements during an election cycle.

When the character gained popularity online, it was used to convey specific feelings. Subsequently, it was deployed to express backing for a candidate, including one notable meme retweeted by the candidate himself, showing Pepe with a signature suit and hair.

Images also circulated in certain internet forums in more extreme scenarios, as a historical dictator. Online conservatives exchanged "rare Pepes" and established cryptocurrency using its likeness. His catchphrase, "that feels good", was used an inside joke.

Yet Pepe didn't start out as a political symbol.

Matt Furie, the illustrator, has been vocal about his unhappiness for how the image has been used. The character was intended as simply a "chill frog-dude" in this artist's universe.

The frog debuted in an online comic in 2005 – non-political and famous for a particular bathroom habit. In 'Feels Good Man', which follows Mr Furie's efforts to take back of his work, he said the character came from his experiences with companions.

Early in his career, the artist tried sharing his art to early internet platforms, where other users began to copy, alter, and reinterpret the frog. When the meme proliferated into darker parts of online spaces, Mr Furie attempted to distance himself from his creation, even killing him off in a final panel.

However, its legacy continued.

"It proves that we don't control imagery," explains the professor. "They transform and be reworked."

Until recently, the notoriety of this meme resulted in frogs became a symbol for the right. But that changed on a day in October, when an incident between a protestor wearing an inflatable frog costume and an immigration officer in Portland spread rapidly online.

This incident came just days after a directive to deploy the National Guard to the city, which was described as "war-ravaged". Protesters began to assemble in large numbers at a specific location, just outside of an immigration enforcement facility.

Tensions were high and an immigration officer used a chemical agent at a protester, aiming directly into the opening of the inflatable suit.

The protester, Seth Todd, responded with a joke, saying he had tasted "something milder". However, the video went viral.

Mr Todd's attire was somewhat typical for Portland, renowned for its eccentric vibe and activist demonstrations that revel in the unusual – outdoor exercise, 80s-style aerobics lessons, and nude cycling groups. The city's unofficial motto is "Embrace the Strange."

The frog became part of in a lawsuit between the administration and Portland, which argued the deployment was illegal.

While a judge decided that month that the administration was within its rights to deploy troops, a dissenting judge wrote, noting in her opinion the protesters' "known tendency for donning inflatable costumes while voicing their disagreement."

"Some might view this decision, which adopts the government's characterization as a battlefield, as merely absurd," she stated. "However, this ruling has serious implications."

The order was "permanently" blocked soon after, and troops are said to have left the area.

Yet already, the frog was now a potent symbol of resistance for the left.

The costume was spotted nationwide at No Kings protests that fall. Frogs appeared – and unicorns and axolotls and dinosaurs – in San Diego and Atlanta and Boston. They appeared in small towns and global metropolises like Tokyo and London.

The inflatable suit was sold out on online retailers, and saw its cost increase.

Controlling the Narrative

The link between the two amphibian symbols – lies in the interplay between the silly, innocent image and a deeper political meaning. This concept is "tactical frivolity."

The strategy relies on what the professor calls a "disarming display" – often silly, it acts as a "disarming and charming" act that highlights a message without needing directly articulating them. It's the unusual prop used, or the symbol you share.

Mr Bogad is an analyst in the subject and an experienced participant. He authored a text called 'Tactical Performance', and taught workshops around the world.

"You could go back to the Middle Ages – under oppressive regimes, they use absurdity to speak the truth a little bit and while maintaining plausible deniability."

The theory of this approach is three-fold, he says.

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