United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is promoting how he has spent parts of the past seven months filming a reality TV series with his family, to showcase how great America is.
Sean Duffy’s seven-month road trip project
Sean Duffy has released the trailer for the “Great American Road Trip,” whereby he took his family on a trip across the United States, to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday. The narrative is that “to love America is to see America,” so the idea is that Duffy, his wife, and some of their nine children, went on a road trip across the country.
The trailer for the series can be seen below, and the five-part series should be released in the coming weeks.
On his official Transportation Secretary account, Duffy talks about how “for decades our kids have been told they should be ashamed of our country & founders,” and that “it’s time to push back on those Marxist narratives,” and that “one way to do that is to “hit the road and SHOW them our beautiful country & historic sites.”
Of course Duffy is no stranger to TV, since Duffy and his wife even met on a reality TV show (specifically, MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars”). And the president is no stranger to reality TV either, so was clearly enthusiastic about the concept.
In terms of optics, this might not be the best time to promote an American road trip, given the increase in gas prices in recent months, which have made such a trip significantly more expensive for many.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took to social media to chime in on this concept, writing that “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.”
Are taxpayers paying for this road trip series?
Many people are (understandably) asking who is funding this series, and whether taxpayers are on the hook for this. It’s a fair question, with one former Department of Transportation (DOT) staffer writing “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.”
In fairness to Duffy, it appears this might’ve actually been funded by private parties. When you go to the website for the concept (thanks to View from the Wing for flagging this), you’ll see a list of “sponsors powering America’s road trip.” As you can see, there are a variety of sponsors.
It’s logical to see Toyota and Shell sponsoring, while it’s a bit funnier to see Boeing and United sponsoring. Now, even with this being privately funded, this does seem to present a general conflict of interest, not that this is anything new. Should companies in the transportation sector really be making donations to a personal venture of the person who regulates the transportation industry?
It still seems like United CEO Scott Kirby has failed to get his return on investment on the company’s donations to Trump’s team, between this and the $1 million donated for Trump’s inauguration. Was it really just a merger with American that Kirby had in mind all along? He’s not going to use that goodwill (and impeccable timing) to take over JetBlue?
Bottom line
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has launched a new series, which was filmed over seven months. It’s called the “Great American Road Trip,” and the idea is that it’s supposed to show off America’s beauty. The United States definitely has a lot of pretty sights, and there’s a lot to explore and see.
As you’d expect, the concept isn’t being well received by all, in terms of him doing this while in office, concerns over the way this is being funded, plus the poor timing in terms of the state of gas prices.
What do you make of Duffy’s “Great American Road Trip?”
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