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.
Pepe and the frog memes were all part of the whole thing on the Donald on Reddit way back in the day. It was on the Chans also