Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has finally released the family road trip reality series that Boeing, Toyota, United Airlines, Shell, Royal Caribbean and other companies with business before his department paid to produce.
The six episodes do not tell us very much about American travel. But I worry they do tell us a bit about the Transportation Secretary’s use of his Cabinet office to continue building his family’s media brand, promote his son-in-law who’s running for Congress, and to demonstrate extraordinary personal loyalty to President Trump – underwritten by companies he regulates.
The Sponsors Are Practically Cast Members
The Great American Road Trip was filmed during eight short stints from September 2025 through April 2026. The finished series follows the Duffys through Philadelphia, Boston, Montana and Wyoming, Charleston, Texas and Arizona.
Each episode opens with a disclaimer:
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.
The family says that it received no financial compensation, and DOT says no taxpayer dollars paid for production. The sponsors included Boeing, Toyota, Shell, United Airlines, Royal Caribbean, Enterprise, Lyft, Google, Chase Travel, the American Bus Association, CRH and the Electronic Payments Coalition. Many are regulated by DOT, receive DOT contracts or regularly lobby the department.
The pitch deck offered $1 million, $500,000, $250,000 and $100,000 sponsorship levels. Larger packages promised repeated logo placement, possible speaking roles and as many as six VIP invitations to receptions, roundtables or networking events.
Boeing and Toyota reportedly paid $1 million apiece. Shell appears in the same top tier. Forbes estimates that sponsors may have provided as much as $5 million.
After a day online, the six episodes had only a few thousand views combined, so it hasn’t been a good advertising investment. But it was ingratiating to the regulators.
The Show Is About The Duffy Family, Not Transportation
The series began as a five-part patriotic travel project tied to America’s 250th birthday. It emerged as six episodes of reality television centered on family storylines.
Duffy worries that Harvard might corrupt his daughter Paloma. The family visits Harvard’s Catholic chaplain and prays about her college decision. Another daughter and Duffy’s son-in-law hold a gender reveal. A younger child goes to a hospital with stomach pain. Sean and Rachel renew their vows in an Arizona Catholic church.
Along the way Duffy visits sponsors and government facilities, vaccinates calves and repeatedly announces that he has to leave the family to go do some work.
Anodyne family travel programs are fine I suppose, though this was hardly up to the level of Duffy and his wife’s roles on The Real World and Road Rules: All Stars. The current and former Fox host encouraging families to see America comes off a bit cringe, and I broadly like the guy. A bit over the top at times, but in some ways I think he’s performed better than his predecessor. He’s been a better Transportation Secretary than I expected in important ways.
But DOT shouldn’t shake down – or accept sponsorship dollars from – companies that it regulates to fund its boss’s branding projcet, whether the money is viewed as protection money or an effort to purchase favor.
Trump Flattery Reaches Kim Jong Un Levels
There’s a reason for bromance between Trump and the North Korean dictator whose people are accepted to pretend to believe he doesn’t pee or poop.
The Duffy series begins with President Trump sending the Duffy family off from the Oval Office. This is as much about Trump – and Duffy’s relationship to Trump – as anything else.
Just this week, Duffy filmed himself celebrating DJT appearing on boarding passes for the renamed Palm Beach airport. He called Trump on speakerphone to address airport workers and suggested that they show the moment to their grandchildren.
WELCOME TO PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT✈️🌴
You can now see DJT printed on the boarding passes for the first time!
And guess who made a surprise appearance?@POTUS called me to speak to the hard-working crew on the ground 🇺🇸
📞 CHECK IT OUT!… pic.twitter.com/GSEqazTlOU
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) August 19, 2026
When Trump announced that U.S. airlines could fly to Lebanon again, Duffy immediately responded, “You got it, Mr. President,” even though that is not how this works. Other Cabinet secretaries flatter Trump. Duffy seems to work harder at it and to need the performance to be public.
It makes me think Duffy wants to run for president and needs Trump’s acquiescence, but he’s a dark horse behind J.D. Vanca and Marco Rubio and doesn’t even make a dent in betting market odds. He doesn’t seem to have a campaign fundraising operation or political organization in early states.
But he is creating political infrastructure for his family. He transferred $1 million from his dormant congressional committee his son-in-law’s run for his former congressional seat, who also appears in the first episode of the road trip series. Transportation lobbyists and political committees have donated to the campaign.
Some close to this administration have appeared to personally profit from their roles. Duffy doesn’t appear to. He wasn’t paid for the show. Nobody even seems to be watching it.
He doesn’t need the money. He was well-paid before he entered government. His wife presumably earns a seven figure sum for co-hosting her four hour Fox weekend show that’s ‘the highest-rated cable morning program’ in addition to speaking and book income. (Her former co-host, the current Defense Secretary, earned far more.)
Duffy could do better than his government salary in television, as a lobbyist, and consultant. He may after he leaves! But one wonders whether stunts like this show, and sycophancy actually limit his marketability and effectiveness in future roles.
I’m vocal about this because I actually think highly of Sean Duffy, and want him to do better. His road trip show wasn’t just a lapse in ethical judgment. It was excruciatingly boring. And in the modern context that’s probably even worse.
(HT: @crucker)
I’m very surprised that nobody watched.
“The six episodes do not tell us very much about American travel.” Yup, but it tells you everything you need to know about corruption, and how corporations ‘own’ our government these days.
Stick to flacking for credit card companies, airlines and hotels. We don’t need to hear your Democrat bias. Sounds like you’re trying to throw some shade on the former incompetent DOT secretary, Mayor “pothole” Pete!
How about we just make it an ongoing series called the Kleptocrats. This is disgusting and unamerican.
Talk about corruption. Are we expected to believe that these companies didn’t spend a dime on this nonsense? How much did Duffy spend on this? I’ll give odds that it was zero or close to it.
Yeah there is no corruption here. All of the sponsors are in the transportation biz. And how much did the Duffy family spend on this travel?
Ya know maybe, just maybe, DO YOUR DAMN JOB.
@Daryl Higgins — LOL. If it were about former Mayor/Sec. Pete, you’d be frothing mad, vomiting slurs on here, not demanding civility and calling for ‘no politics.’
First rule of serving in this administration: Always Be Grifting.
It’s like Always Be Closing but way worse and way more corrupt.
I just watched the first few minutes of the first episode. I’m turning it into a drinking game later today. Everytime the “slyly” try to sneak in some corny humor, you drink. Gotta go buy a lot more beer.
Do you feel good about yourself now? This is just a pathetic partisan hit piece, pandering to your retard leftist base.