A CNN morning-show segment criticizing the racial makeup of President Trump’s inaugural Patriot Games drew a sharp rebuke from the White House this week, deepening a partisan fight over the youth athletic competition tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
CNN host Audie Cornish commented Wednesday on an internal CNN analysis.
“The president promised the best of the best student-athletes. I‘m not sure that‘s what we got,” Ms. Cornish said. ” … Of the ones who were featured in the Freedom 250 Instagram page, many attend private Christian schools. They also appear to be overwhelmingly White, and the application for the games didn‘t specify race.”
“I’m not sure that’s what we got,” Ms. Cornish said, referring to Mr. Trump’s earlier promise that the games would showcase the nation’s top student athletes. She also aired social media clips likening the event to “The Hunger Games” and noted that contestants were chosen through video essays rather than qualifying competitions, with some representing states where they don’t live.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle dismissed the criticism as unfounded, saying the games gave athletes nationwide a chance to compete for scholarship money and calling the inaugural event a success. Anyone alleging bias, he said, “clearly suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The Patriot Games, organized by the Trump-aligned nonprofit Freedom250, ran Aug. 9-11 at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, bringing together one male and one female athlete, ages 14 to 17, from all 50 states, U.S. territories and several tribal nations. The winners split a $250,000 college scholarship pool. CNN’s own Aug. 9 report on the event separately drew comparisons to “The Hunger Games,” describing the setup as teenagers flown to a private Ohio campus for a televised contest with obstacle courses and patriotic testimonials.
Not everyone on Ms. Cornish’s panel was fully on board with the criticism. Steamboat Institute fellow Carine Hajjar said the event resembled a Trump rally more than a sporting competition but argued much of the backlash was overblown, saying “this has become sort of a farce because of both sides.”
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