Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is lashing out at his “haters” after the rollout for his forthcoming reality series drew a frosty reception online.
Duffy last week unveiled the trailer for “The Great American Road Trip,” a five-part YouTube series chronicling his seven-month trek across the U.S. with his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine children.
“The motto is, ‘To love America is to see America,’” he says in the clip, which includes snippets of the Duffys visiting President Donald Trump at the White House before touching down in cities such as New York and Los Angeles, as well as rural regions in Utah and Arizona. “It’s more than a road trip. It’s a civic experience. It’s one of the most powerful ways to understand the vast, beautiful, complicated place we call home.”
Appearing on Fox News last Friday, Duffy said he wanted to “lean into America’s 250th birthday” with the series while winking at his own reality television background. Before entering the political sphere, he rose to prominence on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” and married Campos-Duffy ― who starred on “The Real World: San Francisco” ― after the two jointly appeared on “Road Rules: All Stars.”
“Rachel and I actually met on a road trip on a reality TV show, and so over the course of seven months, we just kind of found these moments where I might be able to do some work, I could take the kids with me, do a road trip,” he explained. “There’s so much to see in this beautiful country.”
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The series’ first episodes, he added, will drop on YouTube in June.
The announcement of “The Great American Roadtrip,” however, was hit with blistering criticism online. Many pointed out the numerous issues ― from soaring gas prices to a series of high-profile aviation accidents ― that have impacted the transit sector in recent months, thus prompting many Americans to reconsider their travel plans or cancel them altogether.
Others suggested that some of the show’s sponsors ― including the Royal Caribbean Group, Toyota and United Airlines ― are overseen by Duffy’s department, creating a possible conflict of interest.
“I love a good road trip, but this is brutally out of touch: a Trump Cabinet member making a documentary about himself while regular families can’t afford road trips anymore, because Trump and his war put gas prices through the roof,” Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, wrote on X.
Added Brenna Parker, a former digital director who worked for Buttigieg and former Vice President Kamala Harris: “Using taxpayer dollars and federal staff resources to produce what is essentially a reality TV show for a Cabinet Secretary is a gross misuse of public resources.”
On YouTube, the comments were just as brutal, with one person comparing it to “going on a foodie tour during the Great Depression.”
“Gas prices are through the roof, a major airline just collapsed and Americans are losing jobs,” another person wrote. “What do we need now? A reality show about the Secretary of Transportation’s family vacation.”
Not long after his Fox News appearance, Duffy responded to the “radical, miserable left” who had slammed “The Great American Roadtrip,” arguing that it was “too wholesome” and “too patriotic” for their liking.
“They’re upset because they don’t want you to celebrate America! And they definitely don’t want you to teach your kids civics & patriotism,” he wrote on X. “So they tell lies to undermine the mission.”
Duffy went on to note that the show’s production costs did not come from taxpayers and that neither he nor his family members “received a salary or production royalties.”
“Don’t let the haters stop you from visiting our spectacular national parks, monuments and sights in honor of America’s 250th birthday!” he continued, before urging his followers to “put the phone down, hit the open road, and rediscover what makes America great.”
As for the conflict-of-interest concerns, Duffy said his plans had been “reviewed and approved” by “career ethics and budget officials” at the Department of Transportation before work on the series began.
The Department of Transportation also issued a statement to NBC News pointing out that the series’ production company, The Great American Road Trip Inc., is an independent organization, and “how and who they accept donations from in furtherance of their mission to celebrate America’s 250th birthday is their decision.”