Transportation Secretary Ramps Up War With Nyc Over Trump 'disrespect'

Onetime reality TV star and current Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted a typically disrespectful tweet on Thursday attacking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over a congestion pricing program that aims to reduce New York City traffic. Duffy announced that the Trump administration is extending a deadline for the MTA to kill the successful program by 30 days. 

“Your refusal to end cordon pricing and your open disrespect towards the federal government is unacceptable,” Duffy wrote. “Your unlawful pricing scheme charges working-class citizens to use roads their federal tax dollars already paid to build.”

The extension comes less than one month after Trump declared himself a “KING” and boasted that the program charging cars $9 to enter Manhattan’s busiest areas was “DEAD” and the city was “SAVED.” Trump has threatened to withhold billions in federal funds from the MTA and New York state if they do not bend to the White House’s bullying and scrap the program, whose proceeds are meant to fund subway repairs and encourage mass transit.

"Congestion pricing is working. Traffic is down, business is up and support for this first-in-the-nation initiative continues to grow.” Hochul’s office responded in a statement. “We've seen Secretary Duffy's tweet, which doesn't change what Governor Hochul has been saying all along: the cameras are staying on."

The program, which went into effect in January, has successfully reduced traffic, sped up public transportation, and begun to generate promised revenue for the MTA to use on infrastructure that benefits all New Yorkers.

Duffy’s tweet comes a day after reports that the transportation secretary is threatening to cut federal funding to the MTA unless the agency provides the Trump administration with a plan to reduce supposedly rising crime on New York City subways. But according to actual NYPD data, subway crime fell by 5.4% in 2024.

“The good news is numbers are moving in the right direction: crime is down 40% compared to the same period in 2020 right before the pandemic, and so far in 2025 there are fewer daily major crimes in transit than any non-pandemic year ever,” MTA spokesperson John McCarthy said in a statement.

The New York Times notes that crime data has been publicly available for some time—all Duffy needs to do is check it. That didn’t stop the former “Real World” star from releasing a fact-free video highlighting his TV appearances and claims that straphangers are living in constant fear of crime.

Unfortunately for Duffy and the Trump administration, most onlookers see these bullying tactics as a classic example of the GOP’s hypocrisy when it comes to the states’ rights they claim to champion—and the pressure campaign doesn’t seem to be swaying New Yorkers. Polling since Trump threw his ego into the ring has shown increasing support for the program across the Big Apple.

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