Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rebuked his predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, over the pace of efforts to revamp the nation’s outdated transportation system, calling the former Biden administration official a “sloth.”
Duffy posted a montage video highlighting what he described as failures under the Biden administration’s handling of transportation while touting improvements under President Donald Trump.
“Pete Buttigieg moved like a sloth. I’m moving at the speed of Trump!” Duffy said on social media. “He did nothing. He spent $80 billion on DEI and on climate change. We did more in one year than the last administration did in all four.”
Pete Buttigieg moved like a sloth.
I’m moving at the speed of Trump!After four years of a do-nothing DOT Secretary, America is back 🇺🇸
Look what @USDOT has done in just ONE year!👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/2obqel6bfq
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) May 17, 2026
“This is AWESOME. There is no doubt @SecDuffy is modernizing American transportation for the future,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) said on X.
The criticism comes after Buttigieg hit the airwaves to slam the transportation secretary’s decision to film a road trip series during a government shutdown.
Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, starred in a five-part YouTube reality show titled The Great American Road Trip. The series, which debuts in June, follows the couple and their children as they travel across the country visiting American landmarks.
“I love road trips. I love America. I actually took a taxpayer-funded road trip lasting about seven months. It was in Afghanistan. This is something very different,” Buttigieg said to CNN anchor Dana Bash.
“This is not about patriotism, and it is an embarrassment to have him going around saying that a road trip quote fits any budget at a time when more and more Americans cannot afford a road trip because of the explosion in diesel prices and gas prices caused directly by the Iran war,” he added.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg tells Dana Bash on Sean Duffy: “I love roadtrips. I love America. I actually took a taxpayer-funded roadtrip lasted about 7 months. It was in Afghanistan. This is something very different.” pic.twitter.com/MNCIe4BzRC
— Neo Jane (@Neo_Jane8) May 17, 2026
The Biden-era cabinet official and possible 2028 presidential hopeful also swiped Duffy’s job performance.
“The one thing I think most of us agree on is that there’s a shortage around air traffic control. Maybe it’s because they’ve been struggling to hire. I noticed that under my successor, the pace of hiring air traffic controllers slowed down dramatically…” he said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation refuted that characterization, telling The Daily Wire that DOT has hired 20% more air traffic controllers annually than the previous administration.
Modernization of the air traffic control system is also underway, according to the spokesperson, with the administration having replaced 50% of all copper wiring, converted 278 radio sites nationwide, and installed 58 new surface awareness systems. Under Duffy, the administration has saved taxpayers approximately $14 billion since inauguration and eliminated 600,000 words of regulation, according to the department.
The back-and-forth comes amid a series of high-profile aviation scares and industry setbacks, including the recent collapse of Spirit Airlines.
The White House has blamed the Biden administration’s rejection of the Spirit-Jet Blue merger for the company’s ceasing operations, which has disrupted travel for thousands and cost 17,000 jobs. The low-cost airline had dozens of routes, including nonstop flights between major cities such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, New Orleans, and Newark. Viral videos on social media showed empty and deserted Spirit check-in counters at airports across the country.
Buttigieg, in the CNN interview, deflected responsibility.
“Spirit Airlines shut down because the Iran war sent jet fuel prices through the roof. This is not about an antitrust decision from two or three years ago,” Buttigieg said. “Trying to reach back a year, two years, three years for excuses for what’s happening on your watch is a tremendous show of weakness.”
.png)
.png)
