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Transport Secretary Sean Duffy owes a celebrity – and his marriage – to a 1990s reality show. The Real World. Now Duffy and his wife, the Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, announce another reality show: The Great American Road Tripa cross-country trip to important destinations across the United States with the couple’s nine children. Produced by the same studio behind The Real Worldhas been organized by the Department of Transport as a celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary, and is expected to be launched before July 4.
In other ways, however, it is not timed. This request for Americans to take to the streets comes as nearly two-thirds of the country blame president for rising gas prices, and while many are concerned about the high cost of living. (The war in Iran is driving up the cost of oil; according to Rolling Stone‘s back-of-the-napkin math, taking Duffy’s route across the country would require about $1,300 in gas money.) Duffy was filmed repeatedly over a seven-month period, during which time he was the public face of transportation conflicts involving debilitating staff shortages and fatal plane crashes. The series, which will stream for free on YouTube, is pitched as a feel-good, family-oriented program. So far, though, it has generated a lot of controversy.
Part of the concern is related to the ethical ambiguities surrounding the project. Duffy has said that no taxpayer money funded the show. Instead, it was paid for by Great American Road Trip Inc., a nonprofit created last year by Tori Barnes, who recently lobbying for the travel industry. The organization’s website lists it as “donors” several companies that are regulated by the DOT, including Toyota, Shell, and Boeing. Non-profit organizations asphalt deckobtained by Politicsit clearly offered donor perks in exchange for varying levels of contributions. “Platinum” donors who gave $1,000,000, for example, were promised “up to 6 VIP invitations to receptions, roundtables, or networking events” as well as logo placement in “provided video features.” You can’t miss the giant Toyota logo that fills the screen at one point in the trailer. (Toyota and Boeing did not respond to requests for comment, and Shell declined to comment.)
Duffy has he said that his family did not receive a salary during production. A DOT spokesperson told me there were “24 days of filming on the road” from September through May (meaning the secretary was filming during two government shutdowns and the airport conflicts have created). The spokesperson also sent me a memorandum of understanding between the nonprofit and the department, which was signed in December, after the recording began, and which the DOT claimed was drafted by “labor ethics officers.” The contract stipulated that the “donor” would not receive “any reasonable consideration for any future federal assistance” in lieu of his gift.
The problem is that the “sponsor” in this case is a non-profit organization – but the agreement does not mention the sponsoring companies and their role in the show. Those companies, not Great American Road Trip Inc., may profit from financing this project. When businesses do things that may benefit their regulator, it raises questions about whether they get anything in return. On Monday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), a DC-based watchdog group, publicly called on the Office of Inspector General to investigate the show for possible violations of government gift and travel laws. Ethical behavior a guide book prohibits executive branch employees from receiving gifts from anyone “seeking official action from, doing business with, or conducting activities controlled by the employee’s agency.”
The DOT has made clear that the production fell within the scope of Duffy’s duties as secretary. “Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary is part of Secretary Duffy’s official duties and America’s Greatest Road Trip is one aspect of supporting those duties,” the spokesman wrote in an email. (He added that “at these short stops, the Secretary also often made additional visits such as visiting air traffic control towers and assessing port infrastructure,” and that flights for “official engagement” were paid for by the department.) But the sponsorship of this show raises questions about how “official” Duffy’s work was. “If this was, as the secretary described it, a job that is important to the American public as we celebrate our 250th anniversary, then why didn’t they pay for it with taxpayer money?” CREW President Donald Sherman asked when we spoke earlier today.
In April, my colleague Michael Scherer information that the secretary has “maintained unusual relationships with representatives of the companies he oversees,” an allegation that Duffy’s team denied. This is not the first time the Trump administration has blurred the line between public and private funding. The new White House ballroom is being paid for (at least in part) and a cadre of private companies, and President Trump announced in October that an anonymous private financier had given up his administration. $ 130 million to pay the army time to turn off in the fall.
The Great American Road Trip it is a reminder that in this administration entertainment and governance go hand in hand. old –Student Star Trump has given an example here as showman in chiefconstantly raising people who share his story on television; health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. he even has a new video podcast, which does appear to be paid by the American people. With a background in reality TV, Duffy is somewhat of a natural host. But this new project is attracting the wrong kind of attention.
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Today’s news
- President Trump arrived in Beijing for a two-day meeting which starts tomorrow with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He is connected with more than a dozen business executivesincluding Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and Jensen Huang, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
- The Senate rejected the Democrats’ latest effort to end the war in Iranthe first such vote since Trump’s 60-day deadline to seek congressional approval for the dispute ended. Three Republicans supported the cease-fire measure, but the legislation failed 49-50 after one Democratic senator voted against it.
- Supreme Court of South Carolina overturned Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictionwho had been convicted of murdering his wife and young son, ruling that interference by the court and the clerk of court prejudiced the fairness of the 2023 trial. Prosecutors said they plan to retry Murdaugh, who will remain in prison on separate financial crime convictions.
Evening Read
The Secret of the Golden Coffin
And Ariel Patience
In November 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to the United Arab Emirates to inaugurate a new museum—and a new relationship between East and West. The Louvre Abu Dhabi was to be the Arab world’s first “universal” museum, filled with art from around the world that spanned thousands of years of history. The Emiratis were paying 1 billion French dollars for the naming rights of the Louvre, a guide to buying art, and loans for masterpieces by Da Vinci, Matisse, and Van Gogh. The kings of Morocco and Bahrain joined the Emirati royal family in the festivities, which included a spectacle of dancers and dancers worthy of the Olympic opening ceremony. In his speech, Macron positioned the museum as an antidote to international conflicts and the legacy of imperialism. Instead of taking the greatest works of art from conquered countries—as Napoleon’s armies had—France was now bringing its treasures east.
“Beauty,” Macron said, “will save the world.”
Two days after the museum opened, one of its most beautiful objects began to attract the attention of scholars, but not in the way that Macron might have hoped.
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Rafaela Jinich contributed to this journal.
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