Sean Duffy’s Conflicts Of Interest Tarnish A Great American Road Trip

U.S. Department of Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy’s “Great American Road Trip” reality series, a program made to celebrate and honor America’s 250th anniversary, has backfired, drawing more attention not to the country’s greatness but to its selfish, lackluster political leaders.

Duffy, his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their family filmed the series during eight trips made between September 2025 and April 2026. The six episodes were quietly released Wednesday on YouTube, and so far, no single episode has cracked 10,000 views. The debut episode, “Philadelphia: Where America Began,” has the most views, with approximately 6,500.

The beginning of each episode opens with a disclaimer, and though it seems mundane, the disclaimer omits some key details about the people and corporations that made the trip possible.

“The Great American Road Trip is an independent nonprofit organization funded through the generous support of sponsors,” it notes. “This program is the result of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Great American Road Trip, Inc. Production costs — including filming, crew, food, fuel, lodging and activities — were paid for by the Great American Road Trip, Inc and accepted as a gift by the Department. No taxpayer dollars were spent for the participation of Secretary Duffy’s family.”

The Great American Road Trip, Inc., the nonprofit that set up the series, sold partnership tiers (“platinum” for $1 million, “gold” for $500,000, “silver” for $250,000, and “bronze” for $100,000) to donors. However, the disclaimer omits who these “generous” donors really were. Some of them included Shell, Boeing, and Toyota, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that both Boeing and Toyota each made a $1 million platinum contribution.

Of course, no one is actually talking about the show itself, nor the cool sites and Americana the Duffy family saw on their road trip. (And they saw a lot, and showcased some beautiful parts of the country.) No, they are talking about the glaring conflicts of interest, as Duffy’s department is responsible for regulating these deep-pocketed donors.

For example, during the fourth episode, Duffy and his family visited a Boeing 787 aircraft factory in Charleston, South Carolina.

“Innovation, development all happening in America,” Duffy says at the stop. “Really important as we think about the next generation of materials, the next generation of aircraft.” The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), an agency within Duffy’s DOT, is tasked with regulating airplane production.

Sure, tax dollars may not have been used in series production. But opening the ethics Pandora’s box by relying on private donors isn’t a whole lot better.

Defending the series in a Senate hearing in May, Duffy got into a heated exchange with Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray.

“This show is incredibly out of touch with where Americans are,” Murray told him. “It really raises some serious ethics concerns about who you answer to.”

Duffy shot back, pointing to money she has received from the healthcare industry and asking her, “Do you hate America? Don’t you want to celebrate America?”

I cannot speak to whether Murray loves America. But I love America, and I still find it absurd that a top cabinet member would go on a trip sponsored by corporations his department regulates. It might not be the worst of the Trump administration’s excesses in this second term, but it still reeks.

The Duffy road trip is also a classic example of government incompetence: trying to do something good and getting the opposite outcome. Rather than inspiring Americans to take a road trip and explore a truly beautiful and unique country, Duffy ended up drawing all attention to these conflicts of interest. If anything, he made Americans more cynical about the U.S. and the people who are supposed to be serving it ethically and wisely. No amount of “but no tax dollars were spent in the making of this production” can change that attitude.

A Great American Road Trip reality show is not even a bad idea. In fact, it could make for good television and fun social media content. During the World Cup this summer, the German soccer tourist “Freddy” went mega viral documenting his tour through the American South. Everyone loved following his latest posts about the simple beauty of a Waffle House, a winding, mountainous road in Tennessee, or his excitement over country star Ella Langley’s new smash hit. (RELATED: Random European Tourist Has Done More To Hype America’s 250th Birthday Than 89% Of Actual Americans)

But Duffy should have had more self-awareness. You simply don’t do this when you are serving in the president’s cabinet. You run the Transportation Department. Being competent and actually making Americans’ lives a little bit better might be a stretch in today’s world, but being boring and avoiding scandal is the bare minimum. If you can’t do that, well, then, maybe reality TV is your real calling.