The New York Times is under fire for what many are calling a bizarre hit piece on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

The piece, by reporter Caroline Kitchener, calls Duffy the “MTV Reality Star in Trump’s Cabinet Who Wants You to Have More Kids.” Duffy appeared on “The Real World: Boston” in 1997, and “Road Rules: Allstars” the following year, where he met his future wife, Rachel Campos.

Duffy and Campos wed in 1999 and went on to have nine children. Duffy’s political career began in 2002, when he was named District Attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin. He served in the House of Representatives from 2011-2019. During his first campaign, he told Politico that his time as a reality TV star was “a lifetime ago,” calling it “Six months, 15 years ago.”

Still, to Kitchener, Duffy is still the “sex-hungry 25-year-old on MTV’s “The Real World,” now using his family for clout, and letting his personal convictions about family influence his policy.

Kitchener, who chronicles family issues in the “Trump era” for the Times, is a former abortion reporter for the Washington Post and received the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for work on the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

She claims the Duffys “positioned themselves as the poster family for the administration’s agenda to raise the birthrate and promote a conservative view of traditional family values.”

Her greatest accusation is that Duffy’s “policies and perspectives are shaped by the conviction that women should be having more children.”

“Early in his tenure at the Transportation Department, Mr. Duffy signed a controversial memo pledging to prioritize transportation funding for regions with higher birthrates and marriage rates — an approach that Democratic senators have called ‘deeply frightening’ and ‘disturbingly dystopian.’”

Duffy dismissed Kitchener’s characterization, saying, “With all the serious issues facing our country, the New York Times decided to dispatch a former abortion correspondent (cosplaying now as a “family” expert) for a hit piece on me and the Trump administration.”

With all the serious issues facing our country, the New York Times decided to dispatch a former abortion correspondent (cosplaying now as a “family” expert) for a hit piece on me and the Trump administration.

NYT reporter @CAKitchener is genuinely disturbed that I’m happily… pic.twitter.com/wrNTMFoK42

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) June 23, 2025

Kitchener “ is genuinely disturbed that I’m happily married, have nine kids, and—brace yourself—didn’t abort any of them,” Duffy added.

“Among the hard-hitting questions she harassed my team with: did I consider aborting one of my daughters, what color plaid my siblings and I wore as children, whether I drive a minivan, and bizarre fact-checks on an old reality show. Pulitzer stuff, truly.”

“I’m laser focused on making transportation great again,” Duffy added. “While they obsess over my beautiful family, I’m working for yours.”

Others were quick to criticize Kitchener and her piece.

“The former abortion reporter for the Washington Post is VERY mad that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has a big family,” Federalist CEO Sean Davis wrote on X. “Apparently she sent a deranged list of questions to the family demanding to know why they didn’t abort their oldest daughter. What a psycho!”

The former abortion reporter for the Washington Post is VERY mad that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has a big family. Apparently she sent a deranged list of questions to the family demanding to know why they didn’t abort their oldest daughter. What a psycho! pic.twitter.com/LfrTL9x0Vo

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 23, 2025

“Nothing demonstrates the plight of unhappy liberal women quite like this article trying to scandalize Sean Duffy for… *checks notes* settling down and having a big family,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said.

Nothing demonstrates the plight of unhappy liberal women quite like this article trying to scandalize Sean Duffy for… *checks notes* settling down and having a big family pic.twitter.com/ag7q7sbJAZ

— Abigail Jackson (@ATJackson47) June 23, 2025

Duffy’s daughter, Evita Alonso-Duffy, said “it’s clear” that Kitchener “hates family, given how much the size of ours disturbs her.”

“The truth is simple,” Alonso-Duffy added. “We’re not a prop, a brand, or some act. We’re a real, loving, faithful, joyful family — and @CAKitchener is bitter and a creep.”

The NYT just published a hit piece on my family, accusing my dad of using us as political props for his career. The writer, Caroline Kitchener, is an abortion reporter who now claims to be a “family” journalist. But it’s clear she hates family, given how much the size of ours… pic.twitter.com/AkiicQXodp

— Evita Duffy-Alfonso (@evitaduffy_1) June 23, 2025

Lila Rose, a prominent pro-life advocate, said, “The Duffys represent everything the pro-abort side despises: faith, marriage, & openness to life. The NYT is attacking them not because they’re wrong, but because they’re winning.”

The Duffys represent everything the pro-abort side despises: faith, marriage, & openness to life

Married 26 years, @SeanDuffyWI and @RCamposDuffy are raising nine beautiful children with love & joy

The NYT is attacking them not because they’re wrong, but because they’re winning https://t.co/l4I6ZexMoh

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) June 23, 2025