A giant inflatable chicken resembling U.S. President Donald Trump waded into the swamp of U.S. politics on Wednesday, rearing its uniquely-coiffed head just outside the White House gates as an act of protest. With its swooping gold hairstyle, angry eyebrows and emphatically-gesturing finger-feathers, the nine-metre white chicken balloon sparked many comparisons to the president of the United States.

Filmmaker Taran Singh Brar says that’s exactly who the balloon is supposed to represent. Brar, who waited five months for permission to put up the protest balloon, says it’s intended to criticize Trump for failing to release his tax returns – a practice every other president has done for the last 40 years.

But the “Trump chicken” quickly became a cypher for others on social media, with many using it to criticize Trump for a wide range of well-documented missteps since January.

There were also plenty of ruffled feathers among pro-Trump users, with many of them crowing about the fact that the president isn’t in the White House at the moment. Trump flew the coop last week for a “working holiday” at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

The chicken was the cock of the walk in Washington throughout the day, cropping up not only online but in the background of several TV interviews with the White House in the background. It was set up in a green space known as the Ellipse on the White House’s south lawn, where it was clearly visible from elevated cameras pointed at the front of the building.

Neither Trump nor the White House have acknowledged the presence of the chicken. No mention of it was included in the daily “West Wing Reads” release, which the White House communications team uses to highlight positive news about the administration.

A Chinese factory started producing balloons with a similar “Trump chicken” design in January. The bird was spotted in Washington in April at a protest demanding Trump release his tax returns, but this marks the first time the chicken POTUS has come home to roost at the White House itself.