What to Know
People are concerned that one of President Donald Trump’s latest plans sounds a lot like something out of a dystopian series…that actually exists. After hearing Trump describe his idea for the “Patriot Games” as part of the White House’s 250th birthday celebration for the United States, lots of people online thought it sounded like the plot of a story they’ve already read: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. As someone on Reddit put it, “If it is entirely unrelated: It’s really freaking weird. If it is related: I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.”
What is Trump actually proposing?
Trump described the “Patriot Games” as an “unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes: one young man and one young woman from each state and territory.” He also threw in a transphobic comment and assured his supporters that “there will be no men playing in women’s sports.”
He added, “You’ll see everything but that.” The announcement sparked lots of comments like, “I’m sorry but is he announcing the Hunger Games?” Some people were so shocked by the announcement that they assumed the video of Trump talking about it was AI, but the official White House account also shared the clip.
I’m sorry but is he announcing the Hunger Games? https://t.co/iwwpXilNpz
— Qondi (@QondiNtini) December 18, 2025
Fans of The Hunger Games series noticed a lot of similarities.
In The Hunger Games, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic North America ruled by the wealthy Capitol, the Capitol forces each of its 12 districts to select a boy and a girl to compete in the Hunger Games. They fight each other to the death, with the victor getting housing and financial security. While teenagers will (hopefully) not be fighting to the death during Trump’s “Patriot Games,” it still feels pretty dystopian to many people.
On Reddit, fans of the series shared their thoughts. Several people mentioned that the wording seemed spot-on in a weird way. “i wouldn’t be concerned if it weren’t for his wording of ‘one young man and one young woman from each state and territory’ because that sounds MAD familiar,” one person wrote. Besides, they had lots of other questions, like how will the students be chosen? What will they be doing? What will they be competing for? Someone else added, “When the prize ends up being something life changing, will we still believe it’s not at least comparable?”
A few people suspected that the Trump administration did this on purpose to connect with young people. Others just saw it as a distraction attempt.
Saturday Night Live mocked Trump for this reason.
Acting as Trump, SNL’s James Austin Johnson mimicked the president’s Patriot Games announcement on this week’s episode and suggested that the Trump admin was using it as a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein case. “This is very important — I almost forgot — I’m inventing my own ‘Hunger Games,’” Johnson said while acting as Trump. “That’s right, the White House will be hosting the Patriot Games for high school athletes to compete, because I thought, ‘What’s the best way to distract from the Epstein files? I know, invite a bunch of teenagers to my house. That’ll help.'”
