Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has gone from being a former reality TV star to a Trump Cabinet goon, has found a way to combine both realities, but not without sparking a massive backlash.
The transportation head and former Real World star has been road-tripping around the country with his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and two of their nine children for The Great American Road Trip.
The show is a Department of Transportation initiative, in partnership with the Great American Road Trip organization, established to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, and will premiere in June on its own website.
But the timing of the reality TV program, filmed over seven months, and while many Americans are weighing the cost of using their cars at all as gas prices spike due to President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, has caused some to label the 54-year-old as being “out of touch.”
Former transportation head Pete Buttigieg slammed Duffy on Friday, writing on X, “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.”
Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten Gezman Buttigieg, with whom he shares young twins, also wrote on X, “The same Duffys who threw endless fits on national television when Pete was working from our son’s ICU bedside are now bragging about their multi-month, taxpayer-funded family road trip while gas and grocery prices soar for American families because of Trump’s war of choice.”
He added, “How much more unfocused, unserious, and out of touch can you be?”
Department of Transportation spokesperson Nathaniel Sizemore told the Daily Beast that Duffy’s seven-month filming stint was done “in small, one-day or two stops.” They added that “production costs were paid for by the Great American Road Trip, Inc., not taxpayers,” and added, “the Secretary and his family do not receive any financial compensation.”
Duffy said he aims to “encourage all Americans to take a road trip, whether it be two hours or two days, to see your country.”
The former MTV star was questioned about the show’s aims amid growing financial pressure on Americans, 44 percent of whom, according to an ABC News poll, have cut back on driving due to higher gas prices.
Duffy reasoned to a reporter in Philadelphia on Thursday, “It’s interesting the way gas stations work.”
“When prices go up per barrel, you see that the next day, the prices at the pump goes up, and as prices go down, it takes a bit longer to ricochet through lower prices at the pump,” he said.
He insisted that U.S. was in “a good place,” since prices had fallen below $100 a barrel. However, according to The Independent, gas still costs more than $6 in California. States with the lowest prices, like Texas, Kansas, and Alabama, are still above $4.
Social media users called Duffy out for his baffling messaging.
“I wonder how much more this road trip costs because of the president’s own war in Iran? Most American families can’t afford this,” wrote one. “Nice that Sean can.”
Yet another wrote, “Americans are paying interest for groceries they certainly can’t afford a road trip with $5/gal gas. Sec. Duffy must be high and is certainly delusional.”
“It’s unreal how out-of-touch these people are,” One X user added, “Gas is over $4.50 a gallon. Americans can’t afford road trips.”
Duffy is moving full-speed ahead with a smile, as he appeared on Fox and Friends Friday with his wife, whom he met while starring in MTV’s Road Rules: All Stars in 1998.
“Rachel and I actually met on a road trip on a reality TV show,” Duffy said. “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.” As for the cost of gas, Duffy said, “It fits any budget to do a road trip.”
“For the last, I mean, we’ve been married 27 years,” Campos-Duffy said, “We’ve had dozens of reality TV people come to us and say, ‘We want to do a show with your family.’ We’ve always said no.”
“And then when the president said to Sean and all the Cabinet members, do something to celebrate America… Sean said, ‘We’re going to do the road trip,” she added. “‘We’re going to take the kids. We’re going to go see different sites.”
She added, “I’m gonna be really honest. We live in a Pornhub world. This is really wholesome, good family stuff.”
