President Donald Trump announced a series of major events for the nationwide celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. founding in a video posted to social media on Thursday.
The president detailed plans for an unprecedented four-day athletic event called the “Patriot Games,” which would feature one high school athlete from each state and territory, with Trump emphasizing that no men would compete in women’s sports. He stated: “You’ll never see anything like it.”
Additionally, Trump revealed that construction will begin on a “National Garden of American Heroes” in Washington, D.C., which will include statues of the nation’s greatest Americans and a triumphal arch modeled after Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. He noted that Washington is the only major city without such an arch: “We’re the only major place without a triumphal arch.”
The administration also announced a “Great American State Fair” set to run from June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall, featuring exhibits from every state and territory.
A new public-private partnership named Freedom 250 was formed to plan and fund these events, involving companies and corporations across the country. Trump concluded his remarks with: “This will be a time like you’ve never had in your lives! America 250!”
Critics have drawn comparisons between the Patriot Games concept and the “Hunger Games” book series and film franchise.
