Monumental 'Trump Chicken' Roosts Near The White House

Inflated rhetoric:๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”
|

Another day, another unprecedented moment in Donald Trump’s presidency. 

A giant inflatable chicken with Trump-like hair appeared near the White House on Wednesday. 

Open Image Modal
The chicken on the Ellipse is 30 feet tall.
MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images

Aerial photos of the display show the fowl, known as “Trump Chicken” or “Chicken Don,” standing on the plot of land south of the White House called the Ellipse.

The area is situated between the president’s residence and the Washington Monument. It’s also in perfect view of the news cameras that are placed in front of the White House. 

The balloon was set up by documentary filmmaker Taran Singh Brar to protest the president “being a weak and ineffective leader.” 

In an interview with HuffPost’s Philip Lewis, Singh Brar said of Trump, “He’s too afraid to release his tax returns, too afraid to stand up to Vladimir Putin.”

He added that the president was “playing chicken with North Korea.”

The filmmaker also confirmed that he obtained the necessary permits to display the 30-foot balloon. 

“The tallest thing they usually allow on the Ellipse is the national Christmas tree,” he told USA Today. “They gave me a waiver for the 30-foot Chicken Don.”

ABC News reported it took Brar five months to secure the permit and gain permission to stage the protest, which happened to fall during Trump’s 17-day vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

When images of the chicken first surfaced Wednesday afternoon, news anchors were understandably perplexed. Fox News host Shepard Smith could not hide his surprise.

“What, what is that?” he asked his colleague Josh Lederman.

“Shep, it appears to be a very large chicken display,” Lederman said. 

“A what?” Smith asked. “Seriously?”

The chicken was set up in the morning and it wasn’t long before spectators flocked to the display, both on foot and via Segway. 

The inflatable Trump Chicken made its first appearance in the U.S. in April at Tax March demonstrations held in cities across the country to protest Trump’s failure to release his tax returns.

According to The New York Times, a Seattle-based artist originally designed the chicken months earlier for a company that wanted a statue to commemorate the Year of the Rooster in China. Then an activist in San Francisco had the idea to re-create the statue as an inflatable balloon to use for the Tax March.

Chances are photos of the inflatable chicken did not make their way into the folder of complimentary news about the president that Trump reportedly receives twice a day.

Support HuffPost

At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.

Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or trending stories that make you laugh, we appreciate you. The truth is, news costs money to produce, and we are proud that we have never put our stories behind an expensive paywall.

Would you join us to help keep our stories free for all? Your contribution of as little as $2 will go a long way.

Support HuffPost

Before You Go

A Brief History Of "Trump Chicken"
(01 of 08)
Open Image Modal
This photo taken on December 24, 2016 shows a giant chicken sculpture outside a shopping mall in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi province. A Chinese shopping mall is ringing in the Year of the Rooster with a giant sculpture of a chicken that looks like US president-elect Donald Trump. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images (credit: STR via Getty Images)
(02 of 08)
Open Image Modal
Workers stand in front of inflatable chickens, bearing a likeness to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and produced ahead of the Lunar New Year of the Rooster, at a Caile Inflatables Products Co. factory in Jiaxing, China, on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(03 of 08)
Open Image Modal
An inflatable rooster figure with a Donald Trump hairstyle and hand gestures, stands outside a gold shop to attract customers on Jan. 31, 2017 in Nanjing, China. Photographer: Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images (credit: Zhang Peng via Getty Images)
(04 of 08)
Open Image Modal
An inflatable chicken sits on a truck bed as demonstrators march towards City Hall during the Tax March Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Saturday, April 15, 2017. The Tax March is an organized nation wide protest, held on the traditional deadline date to file taxes, that seeks to promote transparency by calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to release his personal tax returns. Photographer: Troy Harvey/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(05 of 08)
Open Image Modal
The "Trump Chicken" is seen near Trump Tower while activists take part in a Tax Day protest on April 15, 2017 in New York City. Thousands of activists march to Trump Tower to demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns. Photographer: by Eduardo MunozAlvarez/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images (credit: VIEW press via Getty Images)
(06 of 08)
Open Image Modal
An inflatable chicken mimicking US President Donald Trump is set up on The Ellipse, a 52-acre (21-hectare) park located just south of the White House and north of the Washington Monument. Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images (credit: MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images)
(07 of 08)
Open Image Modal
The chicken was set up in the morning. Within hours, passersby flocked to check it out. Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images (credit: MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images)
(08 of 08)
Open Image Modal
President Trump was on vacation at his golf club in New Jersey when the protest occurred. Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images (credit: MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images)