Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s predecessor  — and potential 2028 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg — is taking aim at a documentary that Duffy noted was cleared by “career ethics and budget officials at the Department of Transportation [who] approved both my participation and individual travel in accordance with federal rules.”

Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, criticized Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, for the documentary’s production, which the Duffys said is tied to celebrating America’s 250th birthday.

“The radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer,” Duffy said, following muted criticisms from the Buttigiegs. “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,” Duffy explained. “And they definitely don’t want you to teach your kids civics & patriotism. So they tell lies to undermine the mission.”

While Buttigieg was Transportation Secretary, he took several months off for paternity leave during a major Biden-era supply chain crisis, and a documentary also aired during his tenure that was made about him. The movie, called Mayor Pete, was released in 2021 and focused on his underdog 2020 presidential campaign. 

The Duffys’ Great American Road Trip, by contrast, focuses on Duffy’s day job. “The series was filmed in short, one to two day production windows — such as weekends and the kids’ spring break,” Duffy noted. “Neither myself nor my family received a salary or production royalties. The five part series will be freely accessible by the public on YouTube.”

Both Duffys spent years working in television, but Campos-Duffy noted that “no one in my family, including my husband, [was] paid to do this.” The series cost the taxpayers zero dollars, both Duffys added. 

During Trump’s second term, Duffy has been at the forefront of advancing several of Trump’s top priorities via his position at the helm of a normally low-profile department. His work has positioned him at the forefront of Trump’s battles with Democratic governors and over illegal immigrants receiving drivers licenses, both of which have been covered by the Washington Reporter. 

Both Secretary Duffy and his wife were quick to use the Buttigiegs’ criticisms to compare the records of Secretary Duffy and Secretary Buttigieg. 

“Under my leadership, DOT has become the most responsive, productive, and transformational in its history,” Duffy remarked, “modernizing air traffic control, hiring 20 percent more controllers annually than my predecessor, moving grants at record speed, and removing illegal truck drivers from the road.”

Campos-Duffy added that Duffy “has done more in one year to transform the DOT and ATC than [Buttigieg] did in over four years on the job.”