Pardon thy ignorance, but why was the frog chosen as the major symbol here? I did some quick searching but most results are around spiritual aspects. (Never been a reddit usr)
https://www.atshq.org/frog-symbolism/
I also recall it was slang for The French at one point.
Pepe is french so i see the connection, but so was the WB. skunk.
Like all leaderless movements, things are selected without intent, they arise. Pepe is an emergent phenomena, aka meme magic.