Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is very upset that his five-part family road trip reality series hasn’t been embraced by all Americans.
In a boilerplate MAGA screed on X, Duffy claimed the “radical, miserable left” doesn’t like the trailer for The Great American Road Trip because, “It’s too wholesome. It’s too patriotic. It’s too joyful.”
In the tirade, which stretched for several paragraphs, the 54-year-old attempted to clear the bad air that has swirled around his new reality show since he appeared on Fox News Friday morning to announce it and premiere its trailer.
“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. So they tell lies to undermine the mission,” he claimed.
Duffy—whose tenure overseeing the Transportation Department has been marred by several fatal plane crashes, the demise of an airline, all-time high gas prices, and airport chaos during the federal shutdown—took time out of his Saturday to respond to the online criticism his self-promotion had sparked.
“With Gas pushing $4.60 a gallon nationwide, Sean Duffy says you have to do your part and *checks notes* that can’t be right *checks notes again*....take a road trip this Summer because gas prices are great,” one user wrote.
“Call Sean Duffy’s GREAT AMERICAN ROAD TRIP by its actual name ‘A TAXPAYER FUNDED VACATION FOR HIS ENTIRE FAMILY,’” wrote another.
Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband were both quick to slam the series, which was filmed over seven months, during which time Duffy said he managed to get “some work done.”
“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 wrote on X.
Pete’s husband, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, was equally scathing, calling Duffy “unfocused, unserious, and out of touch.”
But on Saturday, Duffy—who first rose to prominence as a cast member of MTV’s Real World, as did his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy—insisted the series was not taxpayer-funded.
“Production costs were paid for by the Great American Road Trip Inc., not taxpayers. Zero taxpayer dollars were spent on my family,” he wrote on X.
The Great American Road Trip Inc. describes itself as a nonprofit 501(c)(4), which is a tax-exempt social welfare organization that the IRS says must “be operated exclusively to promote social welfare.”
Refuting the seven-month filming time, Duffy said it was pulled together “in short one- to two-day production windows—such as weekends and the kids’ spring break.”
Duffy claimed that under his leadership, “DOT has become the most responsive, productive, and transformational in its history.”
Ignoring the complaints about rising gas prices, he rounded out his rant with a call to action.
“Don’t let the haters stop you from visiting our spectacular national parks, monuments, and sights in honor of America’s 250th birthday,” Duffy said.
“It’s unreal how out of touch these people are,” one X user said. “Gas is over $4.50 a gallon. Americans can’t afford road trips.”
