Just two weeks into Donald Trump’s second term, Axios published a related report noting that the Republican administration’s immigration crackdown included an emphasis on “choreography” and “wardrobe changes.” A White House official conceded at the time that the focus on “the visuals” was deliberate.
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The New York Times added that enforcement efforts surrounding the administration’s immigration policies were packaged “like mini reality-TV shows — complete with perp walks and even guest stars.” In the months that followed, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared so preoccupied with camera-ready optics that some started referring to the administration’s “Department of Homeland Publicity.”
After a while, it was hard not to get the impression that Trump administration officials were less of an executive branch and more of a theater troupe that was principally concerned with putting on a good show.
Despite all of the previous efforts related to performative politics, however, White House Cabinet secretaries never actually starred in their own reality program during their official tenures — or so we thought. NBC News reported:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is making a controversial road trip back to reality TV.
“The Great American Road Trip,” a five-part reality series set to air on YouTube in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary, follows Duffy as he travels across the country with his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine children.
In a trailer for his new show, which was filmed over the course of seven months, the Wisconsin Republican tells viewers, “It’s more than a road trip. It’s a civic experience.” Duffy also promoted the show last week on Fox News, where he worked before joining the administration.
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If seeing the words “Duffy” and “reality show” in the same sentence seems at all familiar, it’s not your imagination. In fact, he was part of two MTV reality shows in the late 1990s, before he began his political career.
Evidently, the secretary found a way to combine both interests in 2025.
Not surprisingly, the unveiling of Duffy’s multipart reality series did not go unnoticed, especially given the fact that he’s promoting a lengthy road trip at a time when millions of Americans are struggling to deal with the burdens of high gas prices, generated by the administration’s unnecessary war in Iran.
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