{"id":8437,"date":"2025-12-19T02:18:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T02:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/19\/trump-to-create-patriot-games-for-top-high-school-athletes-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T02:18:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T02:18:36","slug":"trump-to-create-patriot-games-for-top-high-school-athletes-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/19\/trump-to-create-patriot-games-for-top-high-school-athletes-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump to create ‘Patriot Games’ for top high school athletes – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated Dec. 18, 2025, 6:51 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 President Donald Trump<\/a> announced\u00a0plans to hold a four-day athletic competition among the nation’s top high school athletes, as part of a series of events his administration is hosting to celebrate the country\u2019s 250th<\/sup>\u00a0birthday in 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump is calling the event the \u201cPatriot Games<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0The competition will feature \u201cone young man and one young woman from each state and territory” and is scheduled to take place next fall.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I promise, there will be no men playing in women\u2019s sports,” Trump said in a video about his plans<\/a> to commemorate the nation\u2019s semiquincentennial next year.\u00a0“You’re\u00a0not going to see that.\u00a0You\u2019ll\u00a0see everything but that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n

Democrats mocked Trump on social media<\/a>, comparing the athletic event to “The Hunger Games,” a dystopian book and movie series where two children from every district must fight to the death in a competition held by their government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some on social media defended the games, arguing that they promoted youth athleticism and compared the event to the Olympics.<\/p>\n

Besides the Patriot Games, other events sponsored by Freedom 250 will\u00a0include a\u00a0\u201cGreat American State Fair\u201d\u00a0on the National Mall\u00a0featuring pavilions from all 50 states, a \u201cNational Prayer Event\u201d\u00a0and a Memorial Day parade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0celebrations\u00a0are separate from those being hosted by America 250,\u00a0the\u00a0bipartisan organization\u00a0established\u00a0by Congress in 2016 to lead planning of the country\u2019s milestone birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica250 welcomes Freedom 250 and its initiatives that will give the American people more ways they can celebrate America’s 250th birthday,\u201d\u00a0Rosie Rios, chair of the first group, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Karissa Waddick, who covers America’s semiquincentenial for USA TODAY, can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated Dec. 18, 2025, 6:51 p.m. ET WASHINGTON \u2013 President Donald Trump announced\u00a0plans to hold a four-day athletic competition among the nation’s top high school athletes, as part of a series of events his administration is hosting to celebrate the country\u2019s 250th\u00a0birthday in 2026.\u00a0\u00a0 Trump is calling the event the \u201cPatriot Games.\u201d\u00a0The competition will feature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}