Former President Donald Trump unveiled a controversial plan on Thursday for the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States, including a new national athletic competition that has drawn swift and critical comparisons to a popular dystopian franchise.
The Announcement and Immediate Backlash
In a video posted by the White House on December 18, 2025, Trump detailed events for the "Freedom 250" celebration. The centrepiece is the "first-ever Patriot Games," described as an unprecedented four-day athletic event. It will feature what he called the greatest high school athletes—one young man and one young woman from each state and territory.
Trump made a pointed addition regarding transgender athletes, stating, "But I promise there will be no men playing in women’s sports." The announcement was met with immediate skepticism and mockery online, where many users noted the eerie resemblance to the premise of Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" books and films.
Drawing Parallels to Panem
The comparison was not lost on social media observers. One user on X responded to the White House video by saying, "Creating the ‘Patriot Games’ somehow still isn’t the most Hunger Games thing this authoritarian regime has done." Others referenced the ancient Roman concept of "bread and circuses" (Panem et Circenses), a strategy to distract the populace from political issues—a theme directly mirrored in the dystopian series, where the nation is literally named Panem.
Critics connected the spectacle to current American struggles. "Americans are getting crushed. Healthcare costs are exploding for everyone," one poster noted. "So Trump rolls out reality-TV ‘Patriot Games’ as a shiny distraction. Bread costs more, care costs more, and he’s selling circus bullshit."
Author's Intent and Lasting Themes
The parallels align closely with the author's stated intentions. Suzanne Collins has explained that the idea for The Hunger Games came from channel-flipping between reality TV and footage of the Iraq War in the 2000s. She aimed to explore "just war" theory and the disturbing juxtaposition of entertainment and brutality for a young audience.
The series delves deeply into themes of propaganda, surveillance, using starvation as control, and how large-scale spectacles can disenfranchise communities. Collins recently emphasized these ideas in a statement about her new prequel, "Sunrise on the Reaping," highlighting "the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative."
While the fictional games are designed to cement state power, the narrative ultimately reveals the fragility of that control when people collectively resist. The visceral public reaction to the "Patriot Games" proposal suggests a similar awareness of the power dynamics at play in blending nationalism, spectacle, and sport.
