President Donald Trump is vacationing at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf resort until the end of next week, and Trump chicken has flown in to keep an eye on the White House in his stead.
A giant inflatable chicken, aptly named “Chicken Don” and flaunting the president’s signature pompadour hairstyle, took roost on the White house lawn on Wednesday.
Situated on a part of the lawn called the “Ellipse,” the 30-foot chicken stood between the White House and the Washington Monument, in full view of both tourists and press cameras, earning it a lot of attention, which is exactly what documentary filmmaker Taran Singh Brar hoped his Trump Chicken would drum up.
“I brought the chicken out here to make a statement, almost like a visual political protest to critique the president’s behavior,” Brar told Reuters.
His message is all too obvious: He says Trump, like his inflatable balloon, is a chicken.
“We are out here to criticize our president for being weak and ineffective as a leader and being too afraid to release his tax returns, too afraid to stand up to Putin and now engaged in a game of chicken with Kim Jong Un,” Brar said in a video posted to Twitter.
Filmmaker inflates giant Chicken Trump in front of WH pic.twitter.com/Ac9den5uKI
— Sean Langille (@SeanLangille) August 9, 2017
Permission to display the inflatable bird on the White House lawn had to be granted by the Secret Service, Fox5 reported, a permitting process that took almost four months.
The rise of Trump Chicken
This isn’t the first Washington has seen of the Trump chicken — the fowl made its debut in April at a march intended to pressure Trump to release his tax returns.
.@TaxMarchChicken at Trump protest news conf before his visit. #TaxMarch organizing this to talk about the president’s tax plan. @abc27News pic.twitter.com/K30VRsZC6Q
— Chris Davis (@ChrisDavis_News) April 28, 2017
The $1,300 fowl, funded via crowdsourcing on GoFundMe was manufactured in China, BBC reported after Brar was inspired by the viral success of a Trump-like giant inflatable rooster paraded through the streets in the country during the Chinese New Year in January.
So far the Trump chicken has been a major hit with tourists, who posed for photos alongside the inflatable Trump chicken all afternoon.
The fowl made quite the stir on social media too, as #TrumpChicken was trending by late afternoon, but the Twitterverse was split on their feelings for the giant bird.
Some felt the Trump chicken attack on the president was a sign of his opposition’s immaturity.
The #TrumpChicken shows the immaturity, ignorance, and mental illness the typical leftist possesses. As well as a complete waste of money.
— Millennial Views (@millennialviews) August 10, 2017
Others felt it was all too appropriate.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the only cool thing about your presidency is the massive inflatable chicken. #TrumpChicken rules!
— Steph_sendwinenow (@sendwinenow) August 10, 2017
And some, like @funder, took it in jest.
Who would you prefer be president? An inflatable Trump chicken, or Trump?#TrumpChicken
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 10, 2017
21,751 votes in & 84% of respondents would prefer an inflatable chicken over Trump as president #TrumpChicken https://t.co/4qn1JV2fXm
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 10, 2017
Still a better nominee than Hillary Clinton #TrumpChicken pic.twitter.com/vEhOmSHgNz
— Immigrant Deplorable (@Prez_AdamYoung) August 10, 2017
Who do you trust to tell the American people the truth?
White House Press Office or the #TrumpChicken?
— Joe Keene (@joekeene) August 10, 2017
Fake people on Twitter say #TrumpChicken is bad for America, they don’t understand the truth. pic.twitter.com/CTZb4RYtOp
— Nunya Bizness (@Loki1142) August 10, 2017
#TrumpChicken WE DO CHICKEN GREAT! #MakeChickenGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/GFN4Jj68wP
— Arlington Lane II (@TheATrainSTL) August 10, 2017
You can follow along the Trump chicken adventures on Twitter @TaxMarchChicken