Sean Duffy Launches Family Road Trip Reality Series Ahead of America’s 250th Birthday

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is launching a new reality series about his family’s road trip across America to encourage people to “pack up their cars and hit the road,” and the five-part show is set to be free to watch on YouTube ahead of America’s 250th birthday.

“Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s new reality show, filmed with his family over the last seven months, has sparked criticism amid high gas prices, in addition to raising ethics questions”

CNN

Duffy said the project was filmed over the course of seven months and that “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,” in a May 8 episode of Fox & Friends.

CNN

Critics tied the backlash to rising travel costs linked to the US and Israel’s airstrikes against Iran in late February, with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting that the daily average price per gallon for regular gasoline increased by 52%.

Pete Buttigieg, the former Transportation Secretary under the Biden administration, blasted the series as “brutally out of touch,” writing on social media that “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.”

Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, attacked the Duffys on X after Duffy and Rachel Campos-Duffy announced the series titled The Great American Road Trip, saying the Duffys were bragging about a “multi-month, taxpayer-funded family road trip” while gas and grocery prices soar.

Campos-Duffy responded on X by insisting that “All production costs were paid for by the non-profit, The Great American Road Trip, Inc.” and adding that “We did it for FREE to celebrate America 250 & encourage other Americans to get off couches & screens and spend time together seeing our country.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Independent reported that Duffy weighed in on Saturday by writing on X that “The radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer… and they hate it,” and it also noted that Duffy said “career ethics and budget officials” approved his participation.

USA TODAY said Duffy’s motto for the show is “To love America is to see America,” and it reported that episodes will drop on YouTube beginning in June as the trailer describes the five-part exploration as an “unforgettable civic experience.”

Beyond the political dispute, the Revolving Door Project said that during the seven months when Duffy was filming the reality show there were “3 commercial airline crashes resulting in 11 deaths,” and it argued that Duffy was “on vacation and filming a reality TV show with his family.”

“Revolving Door Project Calls Out Sean Duffy’s Abysmal Track Record Over The Seven Months He Was Filming Reality TV Show Over the past seven months, there have been 3 commercial airline crashes resulting in 11 deaths, along with numerous near-misses and deadly small plane crashes”

Revolving Door Project

Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser said the period included “numerous near-misses and deadly small plane crashes,” and he linked the criticism to “sustained shortages of air traffic controllers” and “numerous commercial airline crashes.”

CNN reported that Donald K. Sherman, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the show raises ethics questions, framing it as “funded by the very industries his agency oversees.”

CNN also reported that Duffy told viewers that “zero taxpayer dollars were spent on my family,” and it said the Department of Transportation spokesperson stated that “celebrating America’s 250th anniversary” is part of the rationale for the project.