Trump announces ‘Patriot Games,’ a youth athletic competition celebrating United States’ 250th birthday

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen here during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 18. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday the White House will host the “Patriot Games,” a competition with young athletes from across the county, as part of the celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary next year.

“In the fall, we will host the first ever Patriot Games, an unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes — one young man and one young woman from each state and territory,” Trump said.

Democrats have mocked the athletic competition online, comparing it to “The Hunger Games,” a dystopian young adult novel and popular movie franchise in which children are forced to fight to the death in televised arenas.

The president revealed the plans for the Patriot Games in a video announcement from Freedom 250, which was launched Thursday. It is a “a national, non-partisan organization leading the Administration’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday,” according to a news release.

Trump previously previewed the competition in July, saying at the time it would be televised and led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.

During the video, Trump also highlighted his plans to begin construction soon on a new arch monument in the nation’s capital.

“We are the only major place without a triumphal arc. A beautiful triumphal arc, one like in Paris, where they have the great, a beautiful arc. They call it the Arc de Triomphe, and we’re going to have one in Washington, DC, very soon,” Trump said.

A UFC fight on the South Lawn is another of Trump’s ideas for the 250th celebration and will take place on his birthday, June 14.

“On Flag Day, we will have a one-of-a-kind UFC event here at the White House. It’ll be the greatest champion fighters in the world, all fighting that same night. The great Dana White is hosting, and it’s going to be something special,” Trump said.

Trump has long touted his desire to shape the nation’s 250th celebrations. In the past year, the Trump administration has moved quickly to align federal funding with the president’s anniversary priorities, and agencies have followed suit.

The Department of Agriculture, for instance, has embraced the president’s Great American State Fair initiative. The idea was first floated by Trump on the campaign trail in 2023, and it asks states to compete to have their fair chosen by Trump as the “most patriotic.”

Meanwhile, the White House is conducting a sweeping review of the Smithsonian Institution and has demanded the 250th content at the nation’s largest museum complex renews national pride.

Kit Maher, CNN