A televised panel discussion veered into uncomfortable territory after a conservative commentator praised a newly announced White House athletic competition, prompting a grilling from the host.
The exchange unfolded on CNN’s This Morning on Friday after President Donald Trump unveiled plans for the “Patriot Games,” an athletic competition featuring one teenage boy and one teenage girl from each state and territory.
The event is slated to be part of the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations next year. Producers aired Trump’s announcement alongside clips from The Hunger Games films, underscoring the similarities.
“Hold on, we need to play this so people can hear it,” host Audie Cornish said as the clip rolled.
“In the fall we will host the first-ever Patriot Games, an unprecedented athletic competition that will spotlight the greatest high school athletes from all across America,” Trump said in a teaser posted online. “But I promise there will be no men playing in women’s sports. You’re not going to see that. You’ll see everything but that.”
The Patriot Games are part of a broader slate of America 250 initiatives that also include a proposed UFC “fight night” at the White House, a national prayer event, and the possible debut of a one-dollar commemorative coin bearing Trump’s face.
Panelists reacted with a mix of humor and unease. “It’s wild, I got to give it to him,” said podcaster Noel King. New York Times podcaster Lulu Garcia-Navarro quoted the film franchise directly. “May the odds be ever in their favor,” she said. “Yes, if he wanted to be the ruler of Panem, he’s really coded that perfectly.”
Cornish pressed Daily Signal politics editor Bradley Devlin on whether he would take part. “No,” Devlin said. “Because I’d lose. Thankfully, I wouldn’t die in these games, but I would lose.”
When asked whether the president might be intentionally provoking the media, Devlin said he was unsure but expressed support for the spectacle. “I mean, I think it’s just they’re going to try to make the pomp and circumstance as pomp and as circumstantial as possible,” he said. “Like, this is America 250–I like it. Go big or go home, I like it.”
“Okay, volunteer your child,” Cornish replied, prompting laughter from Devlin, who refused to be drawn into further debate.
The announcement also drew mockery from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who responded online with a clip from The Hunger Games. “May the odds be ever in your favor,” he said, parodying the movie franchise’s most famous line.
Trump’s Patriot Games will be hosted by Freedom250, a newly established subsidiary created to help plan the national anniversary events.
