Trump Goons Unleash Airport Pull-Up Contest Outside Bathroom
The HHS and transportation secretaries work out during their airport pitch.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
Top Trump officials Robert Kennedy Jr. and Sean Duffy showed off their pull-up skills in the middle of a busy airport in a bizarre event to showcase their latest initiative.
The transportation secretary and health and human services secretary visited Ronald Reagan National Airport on Monday in Arlington, VA, to kick off their new “family-friendly” travel campaign just in time for the holidays.
But the event quickly turned into 71-year-old Kennedy and 54-year-old Duffy showing off their own physical fitness on camera in the middle of the airport.

Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. does pull-ups after a conference discussing the launch of the "Make Travel Family Friendly Again" campaign at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on December 8, 2025.
Heather Diehl/Getty Images
After the pair announced the effort to promote more family-friendly services and healthier foods, they moved to the pull-up bar set up in the middle of the main hall in front of a bathroom.
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Kennedy, in an untucked button-down shirt and tie, strained to complete his pull-ups.
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After he finished, Duffy took his own turn, having removed his jacket and tie.
“I don’t want you to have a full body sweat going on so you stink,” Duffy clarified in response to a question.
He argued it was “not like, go to the gym, sweat, then get on an airplane.”
He then did 10 pull-ups in the middle of DCA, as the group around him cheered, and some confused travelers turned to observe the unusual scene as they walked by.

Influencer Dr. Paul Saladino watches Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy do pull-ups after his press conference at Reagan Washington National Airport.
Heather Diehl/Getty Images
The purpose of the event was to announce the administration’s $1 billion initiative for airports to improve travelers’ experiences.
Some of the ideas they suggested were the creation of airport workout areas or the addition of more pods for nursing moms.
The secretaries were joined by the CEO of Farmer’s Fridge, a company providing vending machines with healthier meal options for travelers, influencer Paul Saladin, and conservative content creator and mom Isabel Brown.
During his remarks, Kennedy declared airports are where “healthy diets go to die” and touted efforts to get airports to provide new options.
“Another experience that I’ve had with all these kids in airports is the availability of nursing spaces,” Kennedy said. “All of the ingenuity of corporate America, all the resources, all the resourcefulness, has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that god made, which is the infant formula in a mother’s breast.”
Kennedy told the crowd standing around that his department was encouraging mothers to nurse as long as possible. He admitted that DCA has a good facility for breastfeeding, but said some other airports lack one.
After the three men spoke, Duffy admitted it was “a little odd for three guys to talk about nursing and options for nursing” and brought up Brown to share her experience.
“In all my years of science education, I don’t think we have yet figured out a way for men to breastfeed,” joked Isabel Brown.
The transportation secretary said that the notice for the available funding was just going out and the opportunities for the money would be ongoing.
Duffy also said during the question and answer part of the event that he did not have an update on the effort to ban airlines from charging families for sitting together, but that the 2024 proposed rule was under review.
The initiative to “Make Travel Family Friendly Again” comes after the department last month launched another campaign called “The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You.”
“Are you dressing with respect?” Duffy asked in the video. “Are you keeping control of your children?”
While promoting the campaign, Duffy said on Fox Business that it was like going back to “an era where we didn’t wear our pajamas to the airport.”
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