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This past week, President Donald Trump pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley, the former stars of USA Network’s reality show “Chrisley Knows Best.” The Chrisleys were convicted in 2022 on multiple counts of financial fraud and tax evasion, but the jury’s decision meant little to Trump, who was lobbied on the issue by the couple’s daughter Savannah Chrisley. She spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, arguing her parents were convicted because they are conservatives. The episode is the latest chapter in both the Republican Party’s close connections to reality TV and the strange obsession the right has with false reality. For decades, conservative Americans have been growing less trustful of media that is not biased to their perspective. From that practice sprung cries of “fake news” and “liberal media.” But conservatives are often all too credulous when it comes to figures created by the reality TV industry, which purports to present the real world but is frequently scripted. Because of this, the conservative movement regularly elevates these people from the screens in their living rooms into positions of high power and influence. Donald Trump Trump is easily the most successful beneficiary of the reality-TV-to-Republican-politics pipeline. Known largely for tabloid feuds and serial affairs, Trump’s fame grew when NBC’s “The Apprentice” cast him as a powerful businessman. The entire thing was a put-on. Trump made more in licensing his name amid the show’s popularity than from his purported genius in real estate, but conservatives to this day tout him as a businessman who knows how to make deals. In the presidency, he has failed to generate those deals and has more often seen key dealmaking opportunities slip through his fingers, from health care to infrastructure. The biggest transportation-related item on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s resume is MTV’s “Road Rules All Stars.”  Sean Duffy Sean Duffy, Trump’s transportation secretary, proudly lists his reality TV resume in his official biography on the Department of Transportation website. The biography notes that Duffy got his TV start on MTV’s “The Real World,” then transitioned to “Road Rules All Stars,” where he met fellow contestant Rachel Campos-Duffy, now his wife and a Fox News personality. His department biography also clearly notes, “Rachel and Sean are America’s first and longest-married reality TV couple,” in case anyone was wondering. Duffy also used his TV credits as a springboard to a House seat in Wisconsin, which he held for 10 years, before returning to TV screens on Fox Business—until Trump called him up to serve in the Cabinet. The Duggars The Duggar family appeared for 10 seasons on TLC’s show “19 Kids and Counting,” featuring their large family. As conservative Christians, parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were attached at the hip to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, endorsed his 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns, and “begged” him to run in 2012 as well. In 2015, after allegations surfaced that their son Josh Duggar had molested underage girls, Huckabee voiced support for the family. In 2021, father Jim Bob Duggar ran on the GOP ticket in an Arkansas state Senate race. He lost—just a few days after Josh Duggar was convicted for possessing child sexual abuse material. Omarosa Manigault Newman Omarosa Manigault Newman was one of the most well-known contestants with Trump’s “The Apprentice,” and by 2004, hot off being “fired” from the show, she said she was considering a run for Congress or the presidency. She never did that but was part of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, saying that his critics “will have to bow down” to him. By 2017, she was a part of the Trump administration but was fired after about a year on the job. Newman then returned to TV on “Big Brother,” appearing on American and Australian spin-offs of the program. She wrote a tell-all book about Trump, released secretly recorded audio tapes of Trump, and was rewarded a settlement after Trump’s campaign sued her. Caitlyn Jenner A former Olympian decathlete, Caitlyn Jenner is more recently known for appearing on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” with her ex-wife Kris Kardashian. Jenner used that television fame to become a Republican activist and even unsuccessfully ran in the 2021 election to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Jenner, a transgender woman, has been open and enthusiastic about her support for Trump, who has tried to roll back equal rights for transgender people. After Trump won in 2024 on a campaign smearing transgender people, she wrote on Instagram, “Thank God the American people have spoken.” Antonio Sabàto Jr. Former Calvin Klein model and “General Hospital” star Antonio Sabàto Jr. is a reality TV veteran. Among his credits are “But Can They Sing?”, “Celebrity Circus,” “My Antonio,” and even “Celebrity Wife Swap” On the latter program, he “swapped” wives with former WWE wrestler Mick Foley, which led to an on-air argument with his then-fiance, Cheryl Nunes. x x YouTube Video By 2016, Sabàto was stumping for Trump, even speaking on his behalf at the Republican National Convention. Sabàto tried to keep the momentum going by running for Congress in 2018 but was crushed by 18 percentage points in his race against Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley in California. “Duck Dynasty” The Robertson family appeared on A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” for five years as the series explored their lives and fortunes made from selling products for duck hunters. Members of the family were a constant presence on Fox News, promoting their right-wing Christian views. In 2014, the patriarch of the family, Phil Robertson, was being recruited to run for the Republicans as a Senate candidate in Louisiana. He declined. His son Willie Robertson spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention as part of the process to nominate Trump as the party’s presidential candidate. The GOP’s embrace of reality TV personalities is ironic, considering the party has often attacked Democrats for their close affiliation with actors, actresses, and other Hollywood creatives. In the 2008 presidential election, Republican nominee John McCain even produced ads chiding then-Sen. Barack Obama for being a celebrity and compared him with reality TV star Paris Hilton. How things have changed. Republicans love their D-list stars, compared with well-known A-listers who largely back the Democratic Party. Stars like Tom Hanks and Julia Louis-Dreyfus carry considerably more cultural cachet than the “Duck Dynasty” cast, for instance. If anything, the political success of Trump should probably be taken as a warning sign for the right. Trump isn’t good at being president, and the public doesn’t like him. And much of that can be attributed to the fact that he truly lived in reality for a long time, instead reveling in the fake world of “The Apprentice,” where he was falsely depicted as a savvy businessman. Still, the right still seems to have a hearty appetite for boosting whoever comes next off of the reality TV assembly line, and some of the future leaders of the Republican Party are very likely starring in a show or two right now. Campaign Action

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Army paratroopers will make big boy Trump feel special on his birthday Campaign Action

President Donald Trump hasn’t even been back in office for 200 days, and already, his second term is a full-blown disaster. He’s sort of breaking up with his tech billionaire co-President Elon Musk. His so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” pitched as the cornerstone of his legislative revival, is tearing the GOP apart. His power grabs are being dragged through the courts. And his tariff plan—if it survives—could drive up prices and tip the economy toward a recession. With all that chaos on their plate, Republicans should be laser-focused on solving problems. Instead, they’re still obsessed with former President Joe Biden. Two recent stories gave them just enough cover. First, a Beltway tell-all claimed Biden’s team downplayed his health issues when he launched his reelection bid. Then came news of his metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis—and Republicans immediately, and without evidence, cried “cover-up.”  Rep. James Comer, after leading a failed 15-month impeachment investigation, even suggested that Biden should testify before Congress over his use of an autopen, as if that somehow proves cognitive decline. For the record: Autopens are legal. Presidents, including Barack Obama, have used them, despite MAGA’s ongoing paranoia. To be clear, Republicans aren’t the only ones who raised questions about Biden’s mental and physical fitness. Democrats did too. So did the media. His age and decline weren’t hidden—they were headline news. Voters knew what they were signing up for. x Datawrapper Content And sure, it’s possible this issue could resurface in 2026 or 2028. But if it does, it won’t be because MAGA world kept doomposting about Biden’s brain scans; It’ll be because Democrats failed to give voters anything else to care about. Let’s be real. The defining story of the next election won’t be Biden’s prostate. It’ll be Trump—his chaos, his legacy, and the wreckage he’s already leaving behind. To name just a few lowlights: He’s nuked the economy with asinine tariffs. He’s gutted the federal workforce, undermining basic services like Social Security and weather forecasting. He’s threatened law firms to scare them away from challenging his illegal moves—or defending his political enemies. He’s openly ignoring court orders, plunging the country into a full-blown constitutional crisis. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Voters won’t forget. Republican lawmakers are already getting grilled by angry constituents at town halls. The idea that Biden’s medical chart will outweigh Trump’s reign of chaos is laughable. But that’s the GOP’s bet because they need Biden in the narrative. They need a scapegoat, a boogeyman, a distraction. They can’t run on their record, so they run on fiction. Just look at how Democrats have responded to the Biden book: no freakouts, no backstabbing. Most agree he shouldn’t have run again—but they aren’t re-litigating 2024 or knifing one another over 2028. That unity says more than any hot take. Republicans need Biden in the story. Democrats have already moved on. Of course, in MAGA-land, Biden’s name will never die. His health, his staff, his supposed “cover-up”—all filed under the same deranged umbrella as Benghazi, birth certificates, George Soros, and Kamala Harris’ laugh. None of it’s real. It’s just Republican fan fiction. And when the headlines dry up, the fever swamp always circles back to its favorite fantasy villains. Still, if swing voters are actually talking about Biden in 2028, Democrats will only have themselves to blame for failing to give the country something better to talk about. Campaign Action

Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back. Trump is a snowflake, and his sad feelings are worth $20 billion In what is now apparently a trend, Paramount has offered Donald Trump millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit that has no merit. But Paramount’s proposed bribe of $15 million to a sitting president just wasn’t enough for Trump, who wants $25 million and an apology from CBS for the imagined slights he suffered Here’s the thing: At the very best, all Trump can point to is that “60 Minutes” may have engaged in some light editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, which, last time we looked, was neither a crime nor worth $25 million. But media companies have learned that they have to bribe Trump or they’ll face harassing investigations by the Federal Communications Commission or see their mergers blocked. And Paramount just happens to have a merger pending that requires approval.  While Paramount is trying to come up with a number big enough to satisfy Trump, the lawsuit is proceeding. Part of Trump’s argument in opposition to Paramount’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit is that he suffered “mental anguish” and his role as a “content creator” was damaged. Oh, and that’s worth $20 billion.  Yes, the big tough president, king of the “Fuck your feelings” crowd, essentially brought a participation trophy lawsuit. He wants money from Paramount because CBS made him sad. It’s exactly the type of lawsuit conservatives pretend to abhor. But when it comes to Trump, no amount of tenderness—or cash—is enough.  DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will make sure racist Christian nationalists can thrive Well, at least we know which civil rights the administration is interested in fighting for.  At the request of dedicated Christian nationalist Matt Meyer, the federal government has sued the city of Troy, Idaho, in order to force the city to let Meyer open a church in its downtown business district, even though Troy’s ordinance prohibits all churches in that district, not just Meyer’s Christ Church. Nonetheless, the administration’s lawsuit alleges Troy violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 by not waiving its zoning requirements for the church. Related | Rubio tells his staff to snitch on ‘anti-Christian’ colleagues So, what type of church is Christ Church? Regrettably, just the kind this administration would adore. It’s led by Doug Wilson, who loves Christian nationalism and has outright said that Moscow, Idaho, is a good place for a biblical takeover because “We should want America to be a Christian nation.” Wilson is pretty adamant he’s neither racist nor sexist, a claim that is undercut by his actions. He wrote a book defending slavery and he speaks at Confederate “heritage” conferences. He thinks women need to surrender to men and be “led with a firm hand.” Dunno, buddy. That sounds a lot like racism and sexism.  The administration’s suit against Troy makes no mention of the church’s beliefs but does have a long section of quotes from random people who said mean things about the church. Totally normal filing, yesiree.  Get to know a low-profile scumbag: Judd Stone Well, you actually probably do know who Judd Stone is now, though probably not for the reasons he wishes. News broke earlier this week that in 2023, Stone had had resigned his gig as solicitor general of Texas after multiple sexual harassment complaints from colleagues because Stone would not stop talking about his fantasy of … an asteroid raping his colleague? Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, and Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone, far right, leave the Supreme Court on Nov. 1, 2021. We learned about this only because one of the women he allegedly harassed filed a lawsuit with all the details you wish you never knew about Stone’s extremely odd and highly specific brand of sexual harassment. It also alleges that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton let Stone resign after he learned of the misconduct allegations, as did Sen. Ted Cruz over similar allegations when Stone worked in Cruz’s office. Stone’s name might not have rung a bell before this, but he was the Lone Star State’s top appellate lawyer. He’s argued before the Supreme Court eight times, including defending the state’s abortion ban that allows private citizens to sue over someone else’s abortion. Stone’s argument? That just being aware of someone else’s abortion could cause them “psychological harm” from their “extreme outrage” over abortion.  You know what actually causes psychological harm? Graphically describing your anal rape fantasies to your subordinates at work.  Stone has been in private practice now for a couple of years, where he has chosen to represent exactly the type of person you think he would: He’s the lawyer for X in Elon Musk’s vendetta against Media Matters. In a normal world, the allegations against Stone would mean his high-flying legal career was over. In the Trump era, he’ll probably get a judgeship instead. Speaking of judges Trump’s first slate of judicial nominees is out and, as per usual, he’s picked some real winners.  We already knew that Trump was nominating Emil Bove, his former criminal defense attorney and current high-level bully at the DOJ, for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. But what about some of the lesser lights Trump wants to put on the bench? Here are a couple.  You might not have heard of Joshua Divine, the current solicitor general for Missouri, but given his views, you’re probably going to hear a lot from him if he gets a lifetime seat on the federal court in the Show Me State. In 2010, Divine wrote a college op-ed arguing that people should be required to pass literacy tests before they could vote.  You do not need to be a legal scholar or a Trump judicial nominee to see that this is straight-up racist Jim Crow stuff. It’s the reason we have a Voting Rights Act!  One of Divine’s colleagues, Maria Lanahan, has also been nominated for a seat on the Missouri federal bench. As the principal deputy solicitor general in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, Lanahan co-authored Missouri’s unhinged complaint that is part of an overall conservative strategy to get the abortion pill, mifepristone, banned entirely.  Some of Lanahan and Divine’s top-notch and totally true arguments? That the abortion pill “starves the baby in the womb” and that access to abortion creates “diminishment of political representation,” which can lead to “loss of federal funds.” In case you don’t speak fluent anti-choice, here’s a translation: Their argument is that the state is harmed by not forcing more people to have children, because the state wants a higher population to increase its political might and federal funding.  Can’t wait to see great arguments like this in judicial opinions.  Trump’s Office of Special Counsel appointee has no idea what that office is, but will be terrible regardless The Office of Special Counsel is one of those tiny federal agencies that is very important, but one you likely have never heard of unless you’re a federal employee or a whistleblower. However, we now live in a world where Trump and fellow megalomaniac Elon Musk let untamed children run amok through the federal government, so we’re all now deeply aware of these sorts of things.  The OSC protects federal employees from reprisal, particularly for whistleblowing, and serves as a secure channel for federal whistleblowers to report wrongdoing. Trump illegally pushed out the previous head, Hampton Dellinger, without cause, but the courts didn’t stop him, so here we are.  Let’s take a quick detour here to talk about why Dellinger got that job. Before being appointed head of the OSC, Dellinger represented whistleblowers, served as deputy attorney general in North Carolina, and was chief legal counsel to the North Carolina governor, where he investigated Medicaid fraud and political corruption. Paul Ingrassia is Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Now, let’s talk about the credentials of Trump’s pick Paul Ingrassia, who seems to think his new job in the OSC is about “eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement.” It’s not surprising Ingrassia wouldn’t know anything about the job he’s getting, because his previous legal work includes representing notorious professional misogynist Andrew Tate, with kind of an oopsie where he said he was an attorney more than a year before he was admitted to the bar. This might tip you off that Ingrassia has not exactly had a long legal career, having graduated law school in 2022.  In his role as White House liaison official for the Department of Justice, he was instrumental in getting the travel ban against Tate and his brother, Tristan, lifted. He’s also a big fan of professional racist Nick Fuentes.  Ingrassia’s other work includes writing for the Gateway Pundit and hosting a far-right podcast, which are definitely things that qualify you to run a federal agency specializing in whistleblowing and the protection of federal employees.  Trump described him as a “highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar,” but he is objectively none of those things. Even if you think Trump is great and Ingrassia is terrific, nothing about his meager experience adds up to “highly respected attorney” or “Constitutional Scholar.” But hey! At least the “writer” part is correct—if you count stanning for Trump on the worst blog imaginable.  Campaign Action

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | Vance is delusional about scholars fleeing US as Trump attacks colleges Campaign Action