Jim Bob And Michelle Duggar Get Back Into Politics After Mike Huckabee Defends Their Family: A Look At The Duggars’ Most Controversial Political Comments

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar just can’t resist being involved in politics. The Duggars are filming with TLC again, so Jim Bob and Michelle have seemingly decided that now is the perfect time to get back out in the public eye.

According to recent reports, the couple recently made one of their first appearances at a political event since the revelations about Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation scandal brought their family’s beliefs under intense scrutiny. It’s possible that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar used this outing as an opportunity to show Mike Huckabee their support after he defended the Duggars at a campaign stop in Iowa.

According to the Daily Mail, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar attended the Republican debate in Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday night. One of the Duggars’ close friends, Joe Donaldson, posted a photo of the smiling couple at the event.

The Duggars’ close friend, Mike Huckabee, took part in the kids’ table debate alongside Carly Fiorina and Rick Santorum. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar used to be big Santorum supporters who even campaigned for the GOP presidential hopeful in 2012, but, as the Huffington Post reports, Santorum tried to distance himself from the Duggars last May after he learned that Josh Duggar had sexually molested four of his sisters and a babysitter. During an appearance on Good Morning America, Santorum said that he was “sickened” by the revelations.

However, Mike Huckabee hasn’t soured on Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the former Arkansas governor continued defending the family after a survivor of sexual abuse confronted him at a small gathering in Clinton, Iowa. The attendee criticized Huckabee for supporting the way Jim Bob and Michelle dealt with Josh Duggar’s behavior, even though the parents’ failure to take action allowed Josh to keep molesting his victims over and over again. Huckabee got very irate with the woman, and he accused her of believing fabricated tabloid stories after she said that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar put locks on their daughters’ bedroom doors to protect them from Josh. However, Jill Duggar has actually admitted that the locks were one of the “safeguards” that her parents put in place.

Mike Huckabee’s encounter with the Duggar critic took place two days before the Fox Business debate, so perhaps Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar got a chance to thank their old friend for his support at the event.

Great to visit w/ my friend @GovMikeHuckabee this morning in DC. Thankful to have his voice on the #2016 stage! pic.twitter.com/qN2FiyadVf

— Josh Duggar (@joshduggar) May 16, 2015

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggars’ involvement in politics has always stirred up controversy, and some of the views that they have expressed in the past came back to haunt them after Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation scandal became one of the biggest stories of 2015. According to Gawker, Jim Bob Duggar made sure to let voters know just much he reviles incestuous behavior when he was running for U.S. Senate in 2002, which is the same year Josh started molesting his younger sisters. On his old campaign website, Jim Bob wrote that “rape and incest represent heinous crimes and as such should be treated as capital crimes.” He also expressed his belief that a woman who is raped by a relative should be forced to carry that relative’s baby if the rape results in a pregnancy.

“If a woman is raped, the rapist should be executed instead of the innocent unborn baby,” Jim Bob wrote.

Comments Michelle Duggar made about the transgender community were also criticized in the wake of the Josh Duggar molestation scandal. According to Thinkprogress, Michelle compared transgender people to child molesters in a robocall that she recorded in opposition to a Fayetteville, Arkansas anti-discrimination ordinance that protected LGBT people.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Michelle Duggar expressed her fears that “males with past child predator convictions” would be able to enter women’s restrooms and molest little girls. Many critics slammed the Duggars for being hypocrites after learning about Michelle’s robocall – she was complaining about a nonexistent issue while knowing that she and her husband had allowed molestation to take place under their own roof for almost two years. Jim Bob and Michelle also protected Josh Duggar from becoming one of those “males with past child predator convictions” by neglecting to turn him in to the proper authorities.

During an interview with Megyn Kelly, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were grilled about the robocall.

“How could you unfairly… compare transgender people to child molesters, suggest they are child molesters, knowing what you know about Josh?” Kelly asked the couple.

Jim Bob responded by trying to say that Josh Duggar’s situation was different because he was not a “pedophile” – the 15-year-old was a “child preying on a child” when he molested his 5-year-old sister.

What do you think of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar getting politically involved again and returning to TV?

[Image via Duggar Family Official Facebook]