Most people are familiar with either the novel or the movie, “The Hunger Games,” written by Suzanne Collins in 2012. This dystopian story showcases a system of government where each of the thirteen districts is to offer one male and one female tribute for a bloody, fight-to-the-death game. Only one victor may emerge alive. The games were instituted as punishment for the 13 districts’ rebellion 74 years prior.
Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” once infamously said, “I’m not a prophet… science fiction it’s always about now.” In her eyes, the worlds of sci-fi are not impossibilities; instead, they are commentaries on the present. Dystopian fiction is similar in that it puts current events through the lens of a distant, yet somewhat feasible, reality.
On Dec. 18, 2025, President Donald Trump announced “The Patriot Games” in recognition of the 250th anniversary of America’s independence. The Patriot Games will become a series of athletic events being held in the fall of 2026, showcasing one male and one female athlete from each state. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
When senior Olivia Maestre was asked about her reaction to the announcement, she stated how she immediately thought of “The Hunger Games” series, “As someone who is a high school athlete, I think I would feel odd participating in something like this. It just feels incredibly dystopian.” Maestre went on to elaborate on how this might come across as an excessive display of nationalism, “It feels like we are trying to paint a picture that America is the best, and using the country’s youth to project that image is exploitative. Additionally, I think it’s important to recognize that America isn’t necessarily the best country. There must be a way to celebrate our anniversary without pushing an agenda.”
Trump’s Patriot Games won’t be deadly; the parallel isn’t a one-to-one. One still has to ask, though, did Trump have these similarities in mind? Was he aware of how similar they sounded to Collins’ dystopian novel?
Sophomore Jillian Randolph is an accomplished runner and brought up an important point: “Since we’ve never done these games ever before, you really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. If I was asked to participate, I would feel somewhat scared just because it’s uncharted territory.”
While Collins and Atwood speculated about the future, I am instead going to emphasize a parallel to the past. The style of the games stems from something more ancient than a dystopian novel — Roman politics. Juvenal, a Roman Poet born in 55 AD, satirized the concept known today as “Bread and Circuses.” It refers to a political strategy used by Roman Emperors to maintain peace using bread to feed a hungry populace, and circuses or spectacles, to keep the population entertained and distracted from political hiccups. It bred loyalty for those in power, and created a sense of unity throughout the Roman public.
There is no doubt that President Trump is attempting to do the same with his Patriot Games, as he explicitly said he hoped to create unity to commemorate the United States being a country for 250 years.
Senior Ryan Schwartz highlighted how this is an impressive idea, “I actually think the idea of a nation-wide competition for high school sports would be cool. Even if the announcement is kind of odd, and I’m not sure what the goal is, I still think it would be an honor to participate in something like that.”
But the burning question remains: why is Trump attempting to bolster national pride right now?
In late 2025, the Department of Justice released thousands of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files. President Trump was mentioned in these files numerous times. These references to our twice-elected president threaten his power and reputation.
By announcing the Patriot Games, Trump may be attempting to distract the public from the Epstein files, among other controversies like the defunding of the Board of Education, the deportation of anyone who may look like an immigrant, without any due process, and the capture of the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The timing doesn’t feel like a coincidence; this is a political strategy to keep a suspicious population satisfied, and even return disillusioned voters to Trump.
So, will it work? Could it really only take some patriotic flash and an athletic spectacle for Trump to find himself in America’s good graces again? President Coriolanus Snow from “The Hunger Games” was able to keep his country docile for 75 years with the same tactic. Like the dystopian fantasy, is the American public so easily swayed that we will gloss over Trump’s countless wrongdoings because he puts on a nice show?
“The Patriot Games” announcement was made in the name of the founding ideals of this country, written into the Constitution. One of which, may I remind you, is democracy. The content of the “Patriot Games” isn’t nearly as significant as the principle of their timely announcement, which speaks volumes. Our response to these games will be indicative of who we are as a country, and personally, I’m incredibly curious to see who we will be.
It is time that we, as a nation, hold Trump accountable, instead of being distracted by the light he shines at the wall of the cave he led us into.
