Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Enjoys Himself Quite the Weekend Getaway

Did I say weekend? I meant 7 months

By: Austin Abbring

July 19, 2026

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy

Here is one more under-the-radar story before I comment on the escalation of the war in Iran and Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine the midterm elections following his disastrous and fallible address to the nation. You may not have realized that we have a Transportation Secretary, and usually that would be a good thing. Mass transit, infrastructure, and airlines humming along quietly would usually be a solid indicator, but not in this case. I am joking, of course; we do have a Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, and we have not heard much from him since the disastrous February last year following significant FAA cuts by the Trump administration. We have not heard much from Secretary Duffy, because he has been on an on-again, off-again road trip across America with his wife and nine children over the past half year and some change. 

To be fair, the road trip across the United States was Donald Trump’s idea as part of a five-part docuseries, dubbed “The Great American Road Trip,” to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. It was set to air for free on YouTube by the 4th of July, but it has not been released yet. I know, if you are like me, you are absolutely chomping at the bit to watch it. Could you imagine if Biden’s former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was able to pull something like this off? Fox News and right-wing media outlets would still be lambasting them to this very day.

The Duffys embarked on their cross-country escapade, visiting historical sites and landmarks, having dinners with veterans, and featuring appearances by country music musicians Kid Rock and John Rich; if this were 2004, there might have been a number of people excited by that. To help embolden that excitement, Duffy tweeted on X:

 “The Radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer…and they hate it. They’re upset because they don’t want you to celebrate America! And they definitely don’t want you to teach your kids civics and patriotism.” 

Which, no, that is not why “the left” is upset or “miserable”. They are upset because this road trip raises serious ethics concerns. Very reasonable concerns such as “Who in the world is paying for this?” Which, surprisingly, is not directly the taxpayers - that we know of. Who is, is not that much better. Companies such as Boeing, United Airlines, Toyota, and other nonprofits are supposedly footing the bill. However, the obvious concern is that these are all companies and industries overseen by the Department of Transportation. I am sure there is nothing to see there. Can anybody say quid pro quo?

Now, I do not want to be entirely a Debbie-downer. America has a vast, beautiful landscape, a unique geography, and diverse culture that should be appreciated and explored - when feasible - but this is remarkably out of touch. You have millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, to put food on the table, and to fill their gas tanks due to the conflict in the Middle East started by Trump and this administration. Now they want to encourage Americans to suddenly go on cross-country road trips? Get a grip. 

I am sure Duffy needed this breather. After all, he was pulling double duty. Donald Trump previously appointed him interim NASA Administrator while searching for and vetting the current one. A role he held for half of 2025 while also overseeing the Transportation Department (DoT), which arguably he was ineffective and underqualified at running either - let alone both at the same time. Duffy lacks the scientific background to head NASA, even temporarily, and he lacks an engineering background or agency management experience to lead the DoT. Another Trump cabinet member being vastly underqualified with a background in television - color me flabbergasted. 

Sean Duffy may want this road trip docuseries to be the main legacy from his time in the federal government, but his disastrous tenure will be remembered for the extreme shortcomings of the FAA due to DOGE cutting administrators and Trump cutting the agency as a whole, the midair aviation collisions, and the Spirit Airlines merger being blocked, ultimately leading to the low-cost consumer airline going bankrupt. As a result, we saw massive lines at airports and a less competitive market for consumers to be subject to. Which, for those keeping score at home, makes flying even more unaffordable for millions of people. We could nationalize airlines or, at the very least, heavily regulate the service aspect of them, but what do I know?

All of this is not directly Duffy’s fault; however, he did not do himself any favors while doing damage control. He blamed the midair collisions that killed 73 people and any logistical concerns with the FAA on the previous administration and Pete Buttigieg. There is no conceivable way it could be the immediate firings of air traffic controllers and direct budget cuts to the FAA and DoT by this administration that led to these deadly catastrophes. This is what cutting government agencies for the sake of cutting agencies looks like…people die. But hey, at least we will get a riveting bureaucratic rendition of Smokey and the Bandit at some point eventually, right? That will shore things up.