Democrats Compare Trump’s New Youth Sports Event to ‘The Hunger Games’

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that in addition to the headline-grabbing UFC fight on the National Mall next year to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, a host of other events will also be scheduled, including a parade and an athletic competition for high school students.

“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 in a pre-recorded video shot from the Oval Office. “But I promise there will be no men playing in women’s sports.”

Trump said that a new nonpartisan organization called Freedom 250 would be responsible for hosting the events and coordinating with the federal agencies to deliver on events nationwide through 2026.

One of the main events will be “the first-ever Patriot Games,” which were first announced in July as part of a slate of anniversary celebrations championed by the Trump administration.

Critics of the Trump administration were quick to point out the plan mirrored the plot of the fictional “Hunger Games” series, which depicts teenage representatives from each district of a country who are forced to fight to the death in a televised event, as part of an annual celebration of their nation’s revolution.

In a post to X on Thursday, the national Democratic Party shared a clip from the movie along with a quote: “And so it was decreed that, each year, the various districts of Panem would offer up, in tribute, one young man and woman to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage and sacrifice.”

The Democratic governors of California and Illinois, Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker, also reposted the White House’s announcement with clips from the film showing the country’s fictional dictator.

“May the odds be ever in your favor,” Newsom wrote, reprising the phrase told to young Hunger Games participants in the fictional series.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Democrats’ “Hunger Games” comparison.

In addition to the Patriot Games, one of Freedom 250’s planned initiatives is a full illumination of the Washington Monument between New Year’s Eve and Jan. 5, “marking the start of this once-in-a-generation anniversary year,” a press release reads.

Memorial Day will be celebrated with a “Spirit of America parade” and a “National Prayer Event on the National Mall will rededicate the nation as One Nation Under God.”

In June, Flag Day will be marked with a first-of-its-kind UFC event, and toward the end of month the National Mall will be converted into the “Great American State Fair” featuring pavilions from each state.

“The event will feature a spectacular flyover by our Nation’s Military, roaring over the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial,” reads a Thursday press release. “A major address by the President of the United States will precede Salute to America: The Nation’s 250th Birthday Fireworks Celebration — the largest fireworks display in the world, illuminating the Mall in a breathtaking finale.”