On Sunday and Monday, ABC and NBC have been engaged in faux outrage over Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy’s upcoming reality series on YouTube to mark America’s 250th anniversary, discarding its very intermittent filming amid Duffy’s public-facing role in the administration and private funding to call it a “side project” falsely at the expense of crises such as the TSA shutdown and rising gas prices.

Duffy and wife Rachel Campos-Duffy announced The Great American Road Trip series on Friday’s Fox & Friends, so it was on NBC Nightly News by Sunday with anchor Hallie Jackson boasting of a “new controversy over a road tripping reality show featuring a former reality star: the transportation secretary, who’s been filming the new series with his family over the course of the last seven months.”

Sunday’s ‘NBC Nightly News’ falsely suggested @SecDuffy and @RCamposDuffy’s Great American Road Trip was filmed amid soaring gas prices and took away from the “number of crises during Duffy’s tenure, including record TSA lines and the recent Spirit Airlines shutdown.”… pic.twitter.com/SKqPcaGrcL
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 11, 2026
Correspondent Julie Tsirkin boasted Duffy was “going back to his reality TV roots…but this time, it’s not The Real World, the hit 90s show.”

Despite her acknowledging it was filmed over seven months, she painted it as tone-deaf given the war on Iran even though it only launched on February 28: “But this road trip is facing backlash…at a time when many Americans are struggling with high prices at the pump…and amid a number of crises during Duffy’s tenure, including record TSA lines and the recent Spirit Airlines shut down.”

Fact-check: Along with TSA being under the Department of Homeland Security and not the Transportation Department, the crisis with the airport security agency was created by Democrats.

Also, Spirit Airlines was shuttered because it ran out of money and thus had nothing to do with Duffy. If Tsirkin wants to tell viewers who caused it, perhaps she should ask Elizabeth Warren or those who ran the Biden Justice Department.

Tsirkin also made sure to tout as though it were fact a clapback from white liberal darling and Duffy predecessor, Pete Buttigieg (click “expand”):

TSIRKIN: Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calling the show “brutally out of touch.” Duffy did conduct official government business paid for by taxpayers in some of the same locations where filming took place. But he’s pushing back on critics, arguing production happened “in short…windows — such as weekends and the kids spring break.” He said zero tax dollars were spent on his family. The show’s nonprofit production company, Great American Road Trip Inc., lists 17 sponsors on its website, including Boeing and United Airlines, which are companies regulated by the Department of Transportation. NBC’s parent company Comcast is also a sponsor. Amid questions about a possible conflict of interest, a DOT spokesperson tells NBC News that production company is “an independent organization. How and who they accept donations from is their decision.”

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What a beautiful family

DUFFY [TO KIDS]: Can you say hi to President Trump?

Over on Today, chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles tried to frame the family road trip YouTube series as something done amid the war in Iran with Americans struggling to pay for gas even though Nobles played a soundbite of Duffy noting this was done in short spurts over seven months.

NBC’s ‘Today’ on Monday tried to frame the @SecDuffy family road trip YouTube series as something that was done amid the war in Iran with Americans struggling to pay for gas, even though they admitted this was done over seven months pic.twitter.com/7Ib7oFXv8I
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 11, 2026
“Amid the conflict, China has called for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway critical to those rising oil and gas prices, a major concern for Americans, just ahead of the summer travel season. And with the Trump administration under pressure, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is facing backlash for his latest project,” he insisted.

Like with Tsirkin, Nobles had to have been pained to admit NBC’s parent company was one such sponsor of this independent nonprofit outfit that conducted the filming:

Duffy says all of the show’s production costs were covered by a nonprofit group instead of taxpayers. That group’s sponsors ranging from airlines to corporations like Google and Boeing. Comcast NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News, is also listed of one of the sponsors.

Nobles framed Buttigieg and Democrats as having “rais[ed] concerns” before sharing “the Transportation Department [said] that Duffy has worked to make cars more affordable, and [told] Democrats to ‘sit this one out.’”

Disney-owned ABC was its usual self, dripping with hate for the Trumps.

“As gas prices soar…backlash this morning over Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s series being called The Great American Road Trip,” said co-host Michael Strahan, purposefully using partisan “backlash” as proof of news.

Co-host Robin Roberts also used this deceptive framing as though the Duffy’s filmed this entire project during the war.

Congressional correspondent Jay O’Brien boasted he’s “facing criticism as out of touch” for “defending his seven-month side project” and supposed crime of traveling.

ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ had a full story Monday dismissing @SecDuffy’s Great American Road Trip series as a “seven-month side project” and deemed “out of touch” with a lengthy parroting of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
ABC at least pointed out @USDOT… pic.twitter.com/5JY1546xax
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 11, 2026
O’Brien sang many of the same tunes as NBC’s Nobles and Tsirkin, but at least conceded at the very end that the Transportation Department’s ethics officials approved it (click “expand”):

At a time when gas prices are skyrocketing and the average cost of a gallon of gas exceeding four dollars amid the war in Iran, Duffy’s critics calling the series tone deaf. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg slamming his successor, 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.” Duffy, who shot the series over seven months with his family in tow, responding to critics claiming “zero taxpayer dollars were spent” on his family to participate, adding, “The series was filmed in short, one to two day production windows — such as weekends and the kids spring break.” In the works since last year, Duffy says ethics and budget officials from DOT reviewed and approved his participation in accordance with federal rules. On its website, The Great American Road Trip, Inc. lists sponsors including Boeing and United airlines, companies Duffy is in charge of regulating. As you heard there, this project was funded through a nonprofit. It’s called The Great American Road Trip, Inc. It says it’s partnering with the Transportation Department on this. The family isn’t being paid to participate, the secretary’s wife says, and they did it to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary[.]

“Alright, if they say so, Jay,” a snide Strahan replied.

To see the relevant transcript from May 10, click here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcript from May 11, click here (for ABC), and here (for NBC).