Classic actuality TV fans the world round shared a second of horrified recognition Monday when president-elect Donald Trump introduced that The Actual World: Boston forged member Sean Duffy—who made his mark on the present by evaluating the season’s one Black feminine forged member to Hitler and accusing her of reverse racism—as his newest Cupboard nominee. If confirmed by the Senate, Duffy will lead the Transportation Division. Vroom vroom, beep beep!
Sure, Duffy, like Trump earlier than him, has a storied profession in actuality tv. He appeared on the sixth season of the enduring MTV franchise circa 1997, the place the 25-year-old Duffy clashed often with castmate Kameelah Phillips, who, in a so-good-it-should-be-scripted contact, is now an OB-GYN who endorsed Kamala Harris within the 2024 election.
His crowning yowza! moment on the show was a dialog outdoors a bar, the place he claimed that one other castmember had informed him that Phillips “nonetheless had that complete standpoint of the Black and white situation: The Blacks are the king and queen of society.”
“She desires to have that racism proper now, that very same mentality for the Black individuals in opposition to white individuals now in 1997,” he claimed, earlier than including, “That’s what Hitler thought.”
(Don’t get this confused with one other Trump ally and actuality TV contestant, Dancing With the Stars‘ Sean Spicer, who additionally made a Hitler remark so cringeworthy it may overpower even probably the most sturdy Botox.)
For her half, Phillips may be seen speaking on the telephone within the episode, lamenting her position as racial guru in the home: “I’m bored with being all people’s trainer, you already know what I imply?”
Throughout the season, Duffy additionally distinguished himself by sleeping by way of a summit the place then-President Invoice Clinton spoke with out rationalization, and for taking a street journey to Maine choose up a log so he may train kids in an after-school program the place he and his castmates volunteered about his true ardour of logrolling.
Since his stint of stopping being well mannered and beginning to get actual, Duffy has had fairly a journey: In 1998, he competed on the inaugural season of Highway Guidelines: All Stars, the place he met The Actual World: San Francisco alum now often known as Rachel Campos-Duffy. Does that title sound acquainted? If it does, that’s as a result of Campos-Duffy is a Fox & Associates co-host who shared the desk with fellow Trump cupboard nominee Pete Hegseth, who should defend himself in opposition to allegations of sexual misconduct on the street to affirmation to guide the Division of Protection. (Hegseth resigned from the community upon nomination, and a press release from a Fox Information Media rep stated the corporate is “extraordinarily happy with his work.”) Who doesn’t love a forged reunion within the Scenario Room? Reminiscences!
Duffy took one more activate the MTV actuality merry-go-round, showing in 2002’s Actual World/Highway Guidelines Problem: Battle of the Seasons, which is probably the place his {qualifications} for Secretary of Transportation start: He and his associate gained a problem on the present by finishing a puzzle with vehicles. He gained one other that concerned using horses, which, positive, let’s rely that as one within the transpo column too.
Having sopped up the knowledge that he may from the Actual World Prolonged Universe (and a spouse, ultimately), Duffy then determined it was time to overcome politics. In 2002, he was appointed District Lawyer of Wisconsin’s Ashland County, a task he held till 2010, when he gained a seat within the Home of Representatives, the place he served till his resignation in September 2019. He resigned after studying that his ninth youngster with Campos can be born with a coronary heart defect, and stated that he wanted extra time to take care of her. The child was born a month early, and was additionally identified with Down syndrome.
Campos-Duffy isn’t the one former Fox within the Duffy den: Duffy has co-hosted Fox Enterprise’s The Backside Line since January 2023, and departed the gig in gentle of his nomination. An announcement from a Fox Information Media rep stated the company “want[es] him the very best of luck in his return to Washington.”
