Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Wife Counter Buttigieg Attacks on Road Trip Series

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and his wife, Fox & Friends co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, responded sharply on Friday to attacks from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, over the Duffys' upcoming Great American Road Trip reality TV series.

The dispute began Friday after the Duffys announced the show on Fox & Friends. Chasten Buttigieg posted on X, accusing the Duffys of taking a multi-month, taxpayer-funded family road trip while gas and grocery prices rise due to Trump's war of choice. He called the couple unfocused, unserious and out of touch, and raised past complaints about the Duffys' criticism of Pete Buttigieg working from his son's ICU bedside.

Pete Buttigieg joined on X, saying, "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."

Rachel Campos-Duffy replied to Chasten Buttigieg, telling him to stand down. She said the production was funded entirely by the nonprofit The Great American Road Trip, Inc. Her family took part for free to mark America's 250th birthday, with filming in one- and two-day stops over seven months.

"You and I both know that my husband has done more in one year to transform the DOT and ATC than your husband did in over 4 years on the job," she said.

Sean Duffy responded Saturday, saying the radical, miserable left hates the series because it is too wholesome, too patriotic and too joyful. He said career ethics and budget officials at the Department of Transportation reviewed and approved his participation under federal rules. No taxpayer dollars went to the project, and filming occurred only during short periods like weekends and his children's spring break.

Duffy pointed to his record at the DOT, including modernized air traffic control, removal of illegal truck drivers and a 20 percent annual increase in hiring controllers over his predecessor.

Chasten Buttigieg shifted his criticism Saturday, reposting X users who targeted the road trip's sponsors, including Boeing, United Airlines, Toyota and Shell, which fall under DOT regulation. The reposts claimed conflicts of interest, calling the funding an extended vacation for the secretary. They also said Duffy halted safety standards, pardoned airlines that broke consumer laws and issued no airline fines in over a year.

Despite the attacks, the Duffys urged families to disregard critics and visit national parks and monuments before the nation's 250th birthday.

"Our message is really simple: to love America is to see America," Duffy said. "So put the phone down, hit the open road, and rediscover what makes America great."