Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s “Great American Road Trip” reality show finally hit the internet on Wednesday, and it features some big American companies his own department oversees and regulates.
Duffy’s show — which was commissioned for America’s 250th birthday and is billed as a chronicle of his family’s seven-month road trip— was met with immediate backlash, in part due to ethical concerns, after the show’s trailer was released in May.
Duffy says the production wasn’t funded by taxpayers and instead was fully covered by a nonprofit called The Great American Road Trip Inc. Corporate sponsors included companies like Boeing and Toyota, each of which reportedly gave at least $1 million to fund the series.
After months of delays, the U.S. Department of Transportation dropped all six episodes on its YouTube page. The first sees Duffy with his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their children roll up to the White House in a Toyota for an Oval Office meet-up with President Donald Trump.
In a later shot, Duffy, rocking sunglasses, shuts the car door after buckling his kids in the Toyota. He then turns to the camera and flashes two thumbs up.
YouTube | U.S. Department of Transportation
Several other shots throughout the episode show the inside and outside of the vehicle, including scenes featuring Campos-Duffy rocking merchandise from one of Trump’s private golf clubs.
Elsewhere in the series, which appears to show a bunch of shorter trips as opposed to one lengthy excursion, the family visits a Boeing plant in South Carolina, a stop Duffy gushes over.
“Innovation, development, all happening in America. Really important as we think about the next generation of materials, the next generation of aircraft,” he says.
YouTube | U.S. Department of Transportation
Michael Alfonso, Duffy’s son-in-law whose U.S. House run in Wisconsin is supported by transportation lobbyists, also gets significant airtime in the show.
All of the episodes end with an image of several sponsor logos, alongside a disclaimer stating the appearance of any product or business “does not constitute an endorsement” by the Department of Transportation.
The DOT has insisted to media outlets that Duffy’s participation in the series was cleared by the department’s ethics attorneys.
The show has, nonetheless, led to accusations of “gift laundering” on Duffy’s end.
And, in June, six Democratic senators — led by Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) — called on the DOT’s acting inspector general to open a probe into Duffy’s participation in the show due to “potential misconduct and violations of federal laws, rules, and regulations.”