Sean Duffy's wife jumps to his defense after Pete Buttegieg's husband drags family's reality show

WASHINGTON, DC: Pete Buttigieg’s husband blasted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over a new family reality show. Duffy’s wife wasted no time firing back.

The online clash kicked off after Sean Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, announced Friday on Fox News that they had filmed a new series titled 'The Great American Road Trip' with their nine children to mark America’s 250th birthday.

“It’s more than a road trip, it’s a civic experience,” Duffy said in the show’s trailer.

But the announcement quickly drew heat from Chasten Buttigieg, husband of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who accused the Duffys of being tone-deaf while many Americans struggle with rising costs.

Chasten Buttigieg calls show ‘out of touch’

“The same Duffys who threw endless fits on national television when Pete was working from our son's ICU bedside are now bragging about their multi-month, taxpayer-funded family road trip while gas and grocery prices soar for American families because of Trump's war of choice,” Chasten Buttigieg wrote on X. “How much more unfocused, unserious, and out of touch can you be?”

The post drew an immediate response from Campos-Duffy, who denied taxpayer money had anything to do with the project.

“Stand down, Chas. All production costs were paid for by the non-profit, The Great American Road Trip, Inc. No one in my family - including my husband - were paid to do this. We did it for FREE to celebrate America 250 & encourage other Americans to get off couches & screens and spend time together seeing our country. It was filmed in small one and two day stops over the course of seven months,” she wrote on X.

Campos-Duffy also argued that her husband had done more to reshape the Transportation Department in a single year than Buttigieg accomplished during his four years in office.

A day later, Duffy himself jumped into the fray.

“The radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer… and they hate it,” he posted on X, again stressing that the project was privately funded and approved by “career ethics and budget officials.”

Long-running feud Between Duffy and Buttigieg

The latest spat is just another chapter in the ongoing feud between Duffy and Buttigieg.

Over the years, Duffy has repeatedly criticized his predecessor for focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives rather than transportation issues. He also famously nicknamed him “No-show Pete,” claiming Buttigieg rarely appeared in person at Transportation Department offices.

That line of attack gained traction among conservative commentators after the Buttigiegs announced in September 2021 that they had adopted newborn twins.

At the time, podcaster Candace Owens blasted Buttigieg (the first openly gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet member) as “sickeningly pathetic” for taking two months of parental leave.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson also mocked him on air. “Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child. Paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed. No word on how that went," he said.

On the other hand, Pete Buttigieg has accused Duffy of getting rid of airline industry protections he put in place. On Friday, he offered his two cents to the Duffys’ reality TV show announcement.

“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,” Buttigieg posted on X. 

Meanwhile, high transportation costs continue to affect the bottom line for many Americans.