“God puts us exactly where we’re supposed to be” -Sean Duffy, Trump's Secretary of Transportation

 

Reality TV thrives on conflict, competition and humiliation—much like working for the Trump administration.

President Trump’s new Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy’s résumé includes roles on three reality shows: The Real World: Boston in 1997, Road Rules: All Stars in 1998, and Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons which aired in 2002.

In that last series, Duffy and his partner crushed the competition, winning challenges that included rounding up cows while riding horses and playing a version of musical chairs involving inner tubes? Sure.

The introductory voice-over for The Real World informed viewers they were watching “a true story” about a group of strangers from deliberately disparate backgrounds thrown together, to see what happens “when people stop being polite… and start getting real.”

But reality TV never gets real. It’s all manufactured. It’s all for show. Learning how to make a dress out of newspaper is not actually useful training for a dress designer as it appears on Project Runway.

And shearing sheep (as Duffy did on Road Rules) is not training for being responsible for more than 55,000 employees and a budget of some $110 billion to maintain and build infrastructure and enforce safety regulations across air, land, and sea.

Reality TV conflict is manufactured, too. It’s what excites an audience. Trump knows that from his years hosting The Apprentice; he exploits it at every twist and turn in his current “show.” Someone getting humiliated, fired or voted off the West Wing makes for good TV.

But in real life, when people crash in midair, they don’t come back.

The day after Duffy was sworn in, he found himself in a very tough spot. On Wednesday night, a Black Hawk helicopter carrying three members of the U.S. military crashed into a commuter jet carrying 64 people as the latter aircraft came into land at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. There were no survivors.

“This is not what I expected my first day on the job to be,” Duffy later took to social media to explain. But that’s the thing about real life. It doesn’t go according to a producer’s—or a president’s—plan. There’s no stopping the cameras and rewriting a key punchline. There are no second takes.

“God puts us exactly where we’re supposed to be,” Duffy continued in his social media post. Which, for him, meant back in the spotlight.

At a press conference Thursday kicked off by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Duffy addressed the press and the nation. Using all those skills honed on reality TV—and later as an ESPN color commentator—he started with a statement that promised answers. (He also pronounced the word “pattern” twice as “patter-in.” Maybe it’s a Wisconsin thing?)

He continued, offering a distressed public and grieving family's insightful observations like, “Obviously, it is not standard to have aircraft collide. I want to be clear on that.”

It’s not currently standard, but it may become so if this reality TV version of American government continues. It’s one thing to clash with the competition on The Real World and storm out of the room when the argument gets heated.

But this week, we saw the possible consequences of Elon Musk calling for the resignation of the head of the Federal Aviation Administration. As soon as Trump took office on Jan. 20, FAA leader Michael Whitaker quit. Nine, days later, the first civilian aircraft crash on U.S. soil in 16 years occurred—right in Trump’s backyard.

This tragedy presents a challenge to Trump, too. First, he tried to blame diversity. Next, it was the helicopter’s military crew. And after he tried blaming the Biden administration, Pete Buttigieg pushed back.

“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe,” the former Secretary of Transportation wrote.

Trump has also called for congressional investigations into the deadly crash—it would be nice if Secretary Duffy had to answer questions for 11 hours, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was grilled over Benghazi. In fact, since the death toll in the midair collision was 15 times higher than Benghazi, maybe Duffy should be grilled for 165 hours.

Still, the last person Trump would blame for this tragedy is himself because, unlike Harry Truman, the buck never stops at his desk.

Meanwhile, expect more tragedies. Trump’s regime is parroting Musk’s failed Twitter tactics, slashing funds for staff and oversight on the federal government. Failing to round up a cow is one thing on TV, but failing to enforce safety regulations across air, land, and sea travel is quite another.

That’s the reality. And it’s a deadly one.

-Nell Scovell, Daily Beast