One week from today, jury selection will begin in the Josh Duggar child pornography trial.
As a result, rhe eyes of the world will be on northwest Arkansas for the first time since Josh’s previous sex scandal.
And believe it or not, the trial won’t be the only development worth paying attention to in the Tontitown area between now and the end of the year.
Just days after the start of Josh’s criminal trial, four Duggar sisters will be in court to sue the police and sheriff’s departments whom they claim illegally released private information about their case.
And all of this is happening just weeks after Jim Bob Duggar announced that he’ll be running for a seat in the Arkansas State Senate.
At the time of his announcement, many assumed that Jim Bob had officially lost his marbles.
After all, the Duggars are already hated by their neighbors, so why would Jim Bob take on the risk and expense of a political campaign at a time when his reputation in his home town is even more battered than usual?
But these days a new theory has emerged:
Perhaps Jim Bob’s run for office and the recent push to have his daughters’ case heard in court isn’t coincidental at all.
Maybe this is all just another case of Jim Bob manipulating a situation as part of his never-ending effort to sweep his family’s most shameful behavior under the carpet.
It’s possible that Jim Bob doesn’t expect to win re-election or that his daughters’ suit will be successful.
It could be that this is all just his way of drawing attention away from the biggest scandal in the history of reality television.
And some Duggar critics believe the diversionary tactics are just getting started.
On the always-entertaining r/DuggarSnark subreddit, there’s been speculation that several Duggar pregnancy announcements will be made around the time that Josh’s trial gets underway.
“It’ll be God’s gift of holiday babies! Who doesn’t love a barrage of pregnancy announcements to help glaze over the fact that there’s a predator in the midst,” one person wrote.
It’s not such an outlandish theory, especially since the family is overdue — no pun intended — for some baby-related news.
Justin Duggar and Claire Spivey got married back in February, and astonishingly, they have yet to announce that she’s pregnant.
Jedidiah Duggar and Katey Nakatsu are expecting their first child, and there’s a chance that Jim Bob is nudging them toward sharing a few updates these days.
Hell, we might be in for a Duggar news dump, the likes of which the world has never seen.
“Claire is pregnant- maybe another pregnancy announced around Thanksgiving….they’ll bombard us,” one redditor suggested.
“Gender reveal for Jed/Katey….the trial starts, Jana’s courtship announced sometime in December,” this person continued.
“(Depending on when the trial ends, they’ll wait a couple weeks after I think) Christmas or Thanksgiving will bring a Jer/Hannah engagement.”
Yes, now would be the optimal time for Jim Bob to announce that Jana is courting, or that Jeremiah and Hannah Wissmann are engaged.
It may sound impossibly cynical and callous to think of major family announcements in these terms.
But let’s not forget that Jim Bob has made a career out of cynically exploiting his family’s milestone moments.