More Dispatches from the Dumbest Timeline
Reality show edition.
NPR reports: Transportation Secretary Duffy filmed a reality show, funded by firms he regulates.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has returned to his reality television roots, filming a cross-country road trip with his family that will be released as an unscripted series ahead of America’s 250th birthday in July.
“The Great American Road Trip” follows Duffy, his wife and nine children on what he calls “a civic experience” — and encourages other families to follow suit.
[…]
The video shows the family snowmobiling out West, visiting Philadelphia’s historic landmarks, thanking veterans at a diner and enjoying waterslides, interspersed with some backseat teasing and hints of a dramatic emergency-room visit. It also features cameos by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, country musicians Kid Rock and John Rich, a Benjamin Franklin reenactor and President Trump, who describes their exploits as “a little trip all over.”
Again with Kid Rock!
But more importantly:
Those involved say production costs were covered by a nonprofit by the same name, The Great American Road Trip Inc. Its public list of sponsors is stacked with travel-related companies — like Toyota, Boeing and United Airlines — with ties to the Department of Transportation, raising more questions.
[…]
Duffy has said filming happened in one- to two-day windows like “weekends and the kids’ spring break” over a seven-month period. Both the Great American Road Trip Inc. and the Department of Transportation declined to confirm when exactly that window was.
Sizemore, the Department of Transportation spokesperson, told NPR over email that “in these brief stops, the Secretary also often conducted additional visits like touring air traffic control towers and assessing port infrastructure.”
That doesn’t sound conflict-of-interest-y at all, now does it?
Plus, how does this relate to his job? Since when is DOT the tourist bureau?
Elect a reality show star, get reailty show government, I guess.
As I’ve said before, Trump didn’t select a cabinet, he cast a TV show, and the ‘stars’ turned secretaries have reverted to what they do best: performing. ‘Judge’ Jeanine, Hegseth and Duffy ooze incompetence every time they open their mouth.
A quick reminder that Republicans absolutely lost their sh!t when the previous Transportation Secretary took time away from the office to be in the pediatric ICU when one of his twins stopped breathing.
It is absolutely unacceptable that this alleged government employee/public servant took time away from his JOB for this reality show nonsense.
@Charley in Cleveland:
Hegseth has been pretty competent at purging the military of senior officers who might balk at executing orders to engage in war crimes or other illegalities. Examples: small boats in the Caribbean, Operation Epic Fury etc.
@charontwo:
The absence of immediate consequence has enabled his personnel actions based on bigotry and silencing opinions he finds inconvenient. But his rank incompetence as DoD leader and presidential adviser is having dire broad consequences that he and the administration are unable to wriggle out of.
They should have taken Patel along on the trip. He could have made cocktails.
Steve
I’m not going to subject myself to watching any of it, but I will bet my arm there aren’t any scenes from their roadtrip showing the Duffys filling their minivan with gasoline. Or commenting on how much that cost them (or rather Toyota, Boeing and United Airlines).
This defies logic. How, exactly, does one execute a cross-country road trip in one- to two-day windows without incurring CONSIDERABLE additional expenses? This would involve storing the vehicle and flying the wife and nine kids home in-between, and flying Duffy who knows where to do his job. I’m sure they thought this was some kind of butt-covering, but IMHO, it just makes the whole thing worse, not better.
YMMV, she says, unironically.
@Jen:
Not that the DOT should be concerned with tourism, or anything, but..
He might have done it with rental RVs. I only recently found out about that industry from a co-worker who did a family trip in the Grand Canyon area last spring. Going to an area by air and renting a camper-RV for a day/week or two to cruise around in it with is more “a thing” than I had been aware. Almost seems like every dealer in used RVs in tourist areas offers rentals. I can see it a good way to go for some families. Don’t have to own one of the beasts, saves the time-consuming boring gas-guzzling drives to get from home to there and back.