Skip to main content
War is often good for business, with arms dealers prospering as the world suffers.
Donald Trump’s war on Portland is no different, but it’s not Raytheon (cruise missiles) or Lockheed Martin (F-22 fighter jets) that are profiting. It’s Lippman Co., the 77-year-old party supply store on Yamhill Street in the Central Eastside.
Many of the protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the South Waterfront are buying their inflatable costumes there. Dressing as a blow-up frog, chicken or dinosaur has become de rigueur at the nightly gatherings, thanks to two die-hard Trump haters—one dressed as a frog and another as a chicken—who led the way.
Lippman manager Robyn Adair says demand has led to a boomlet at the store. People shop with her one day, and she sees them on television the next. “A couple bought Garfield and a banana the other day, and I saw them on the news,” Adair says.
The rule of thumb seems to be the sillier the better, Lippman staffers say. The suits range in price from $60 to $70 there, a little more than you’ll pay on Amazon (a company that donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and paid a reported $40 million for the right to broadcast a documentary about his wife, Melania).
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek implored residents to remain peaceful if they planned to protest. The crowd outside the ICE building took it one step further, staying nonviolent and going nonsensical to mock Trump’s war on the city.
“We’re in the silliest timeline, so I thought, why not be silly with it?” a man in a banana costume told the Reuters news service Sunday night as SpongeBob SquarePants, Pikachu, a shark, and a mushroom danced around him. “This is bananas,” his sign read.
The costumes provide a pure Portland counterpoint to federal officers dressed in riot gear with gas masks and guns. They recall Flower Power, the title of a 1967 black-and-white photo of protester George Harris putting a carnation into the barrel of an M14 rifle held by a military policeman during a march on the Pentagon aimed at ending the Vietnam War.
Another thing that might irritate Trump: At least some (if not all) of the costumes are made in China, the country Trump blames for hollowing out American manufacturing.
It takes a little searching to find the manufacturers. A site called Made-in-China.com says the Lanxi Rose-Team Sexy Lingerie Firm in Lanxi, China, can supply inflatable frog costumes for $16.99 each. Minimum order is 500. Thanks to Trump, tariffs on the costumes could be as high as 70%, including a 20% “fentanyl-related duty,” depending on how they are categorized.
Even so, if the protests go on, 500 frog suits could be a worthwhile investment.
