Transportation Secretary SeanDuffy dismissed backlash over his family's road trip reality show celebrating America's 250th birthday.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 11: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks during a panel at the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026 in Washington, DC.
The global investment management company held the summit consisting of leaders from government, business, and labor to address expanding U.S. infrastructure. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy dismissed the backlash over his family's road-trip reality show celebrating America's 250th birthday.
Duffy, his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine children traveled across the U.S. for “The Great American Road Trip,” a five-part reality series set to air on YouTube in celebration of the country's 250th,, released Friday.
“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.
” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X on Friday regarding the reality series, "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.
" Duffy defended the show on Saturday, posting on X, "The radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer and they hate it. It’s too wholesome. It’s too patriotic. It’s too joyful.
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 explained that the show's "Production costs were paid for by the Great American Road Trip Inc., not taxpayers," and neither he nor his "family received a salary or production royalties. " "The series was filmed in short, one to two day production windows — such as weekends and the kids’ spring break," Duffy added.
He also told Fox News 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.
"noted in his X post that "Career ethics and budget officials at the Department of Transportation reviewed and approved both my participation and individual travel in accordance with federal rules. " “These are the same people who waged a war on fossil fuels, pushed gas to over $5 a gallon, and forced American families into expensive electric vehicles,” Sizemore said in a statement.
“Secretary Duffy has already taken action to make cars for affordable and support the President energy dominance agenda. ” He added that the nonprofit group, The Great American Road Trip Inc., covered costs for the show that included gas, car rentals, lodging, activities, and that taxpayer funds were used only for official government travel.
Before his political career, Duffy was a cast member on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” in 1997, and then he joined the channel’s reality game show “Road Rules: All Stars,” where he and Campos-Duffy first met. The show's trailer comes as average fuel prices have jumped to more than $4.50 per gallon, up roughly 50% since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in late February.
Critics also noted that several of the show's sponsors — such as Boeing, Toyota, Shell, Royal Caribbean Group, and United Airlines — are companies that the DOT oversees and regulates. Comcast/NBCUniversal, NBC News' parent company, is also one of the series' sponsors. The DOT told NBC News that the nonprofit behind the series 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.
” The Great American Road Trip Inc. did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. Toyota told the news outlet in a statement that it “is proud to support initiatives that celebrate America’s history, people and the spirit of exploration. ”3 people arrested in connection with abduction of woman and 2 children in Perinton Three people have been charged with kidnapping following the reported abduction of a woman and her two children Saturday afternoon. Rochester, N.Y.
— A driver has been charged with DWI after police said he ran over a woman who was lying down in a parking lot on the city's west side. Rochester police searching for missing 13-year-old Rochester, N.Y. -- Rochester Police are asking for help finding a missing 13-year-old boy. They were called to a residential facility on Monroe Avenue just afterPerinton, N.Y.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help to locate a family from Perinton who was abducted.
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