Buttigieg denounces – Pete Buttigieg accused Sean Duffy of hypocrisy after Duffy teased a seven-month, taxpayer-funded-style road trip reality series, arguing the timing is tone-deaf as Americans face higher diesel and gas prices.
Pete Buttigieg didn’t mince words after Sean Duffy framed his new road trip reality show as a matter of “celebrate America.” The former transportation secretary said the comparison to his own experience landed badly—especially while Americans struggle with the cost of getting around.
Buttigieg said he “love[s] road trips” and “love[s] America,” then drew a sharp contrast with Duffy’s pitch. “I actually took a taxpayer-funded road trip lasting about seven months. It was in Afghanistan,” he said, adding, “This is something very different.”
Duffy has drawn backlash after teasing a five-part YouTube series called “The Great American Road Trip. ” described as capturing his seven-month journey across the country with his wife. Rachel Campos-Duffy. and their nine children.. Buttigieg said the exchange has turned into a distraction while people were dealing with real crises. pointing to the couple’s high-profile criticism that he said came when his family faced a serious medical situation.
Buttigieg, who previously served as an intelligence officer in the U.S.. Navy Reserve, and his husband, Chastain Buttigieg, also called out the Duffys over what they characterized as an “unserious” move.. They accused the couple—both of whom have worked for Fox—of “throwing ‘endless fits on national television when Pete was working from our son’s ICU bedside’ (a focal point of right-wing outrage back in 2021).”
Duffy’s defense has centered on cost and compensation.. He claimed the left was upset not because of expenses. but because it didn’t want people to “celebrate America.” He also said taxpayers didn’t cover any of the production costs and that neither he nor his family received a “salary or production royalties” tied to the project.
On Sunday, Buttigieg rejected Duffy’s framing that the dispute is about patriotism.. “It is an embarrassment to have him going around saying that a road trip ‘fits any budget’ at a time when more and more Americans cannot afford a road trip because of the explosion in diesel prices and gas prices caused directly by the Iran war and by the Trump administration. ” Buttigieg said.
He said that if the public is being squeezed at the pump, it’s especially jarring to promote a celebratory version of road travel. “To make road trips unaffordable and then go around celebrating your own road trip is exactly what people are so frustrated about.”
Buttigieg also argued the sponsorship structure makes the optics worse.. Duffy’s show is sponsored by companies overseen and regulated by his department. and Buttigieg called efforts to pay for the project through corporate sponsors “nakedly unfair” and wrong. describing it as another example of Trump’s “pay-to-play Washington.”
The former transportation secretary linked the broader criticism to what he called shifting priorities inside the administration.. He pointed to the Federal Aviation Administration recently slashing its hiring target for air traffic controllers amid concerns about staffing shortages.. “Clearly the priorities are out of whack and the priority should be making sure that Americans have safe and affordable transportation.”
The pattern in Buttigieg’s remarks ties Duffy’s defended cost claims to timing and transportation affordability: he argues gas and diesel prices have risen due to the Iran war and the Trump administration. while Duffy promotes a road trip as fitting “any budget. ” and Buttigieg says the project is then financed through corporate sponsors tied to companies overseen and regulated by his department.
For now. Duffy continues to position “The Great American Road Trip” as a project with no taxpayer production costs and no “salary or production royalties. ” while Buttigieg treats the public messaging as a political and policy mismatch—especially as he points to the administration’s transportation decisions alongside the FAA’s air traffic controller hiring cut.
Pete Buttigieg Sean Duffy The Great American Road Trip Department sponsorship gas prices diesel prices Iran war Trump administration FAA hiring target air traffic controllers taxpayer-funded road trip pay-to-play Washington