Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg didn't hold back on Sunday when asked about his successor Sean Duffy's reality-style travel series, filmed while Duffy runs the agency. The show, Buttigieg argued, is an embarrassment at a time when Americans are feeling the pinch at the pump.

Buttigieg, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," was quick to distinguish his own taxpayer-funded travels from Duffy's. "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," he said, referencing his military service.

The issue, Buttigieg stressed, isn't patriotism. It's that Duffy is out there promoting a road trip he says fits "any budget" while many Americans are struggling with higher diesel and gasoline prices linked to the Iran war and the Trump administration. Celebrating a road trip when travel has become less affordable is "exactly what people are so frustrated about," he said.

The numbers back him up. The current national average for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States stands at $4.513, according to AAA data at the time of writing. California leads the country at $6.143, followed closely by Washington and Hawaii.

Duffy's five-part YouTube series, "The Great American Road Trip," follows him, his wife—Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy—and their children on a months-long journey across the country tied to America's 250th anniversary. Duffy has said that Great American Road Trip Inc. paid the production costs, not taxpayers, and that ethics and budget officials approved his participation and travel.

Rachel Campos-Duffy also defended her husband last week after a nonpartisan nonprofit government watchdog, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), asked the Transportation Department inspector general to investigate. "I don't think anybody can accuse my husband of not having done his job well," she said, adding, "My husband is not a corrupt man." CREW said in its complaint that the project may have violated federal gift and travel rules because companies regulated by the Transportation Department sponsored the show.

MarketDash reached out to the Department of Transportation for comment but did not receive a response at the time of writing.

The reality-TV styled show has also drawn criticism from California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and economist Robert Reich, who called its timing poor.

Duffy has rejected the criticism, saying private backers funded the show and his family filmed it in short production windows. He has accused Democrats of attacking a patriotic project. Over the past week, he has openly criticized Buttigieg's tenure on social media, calling his Biden-era predecessor a "sloth" and claiming the Trump administration has moved faster on Transportation Department priorities.

Meanwhile, Politico reported on Saturday that an unnamed travel company declined to sponsor the project over concerns that the arrangement resembled "paying for access" to a sitting Cabinet secretary.