Josh Duggar Says He’s Moving to DC to Work in Politics (Updated!)

March 14, 2013 By 31 Comments

Josh Duggar, the oldest of the Duggar kids, is finally leaving the nest. Gossip blog Naughty But Nice Rob reports that Josh, pregnant wife Anna Duggar, and their two kids will be moving to Washington, DC, so Josh can pursue a career in politics. Though Josh isn’t naming his new workplace just yet, he says it’s a Christian organization that promotes “family values and right to life.”

Josh, like the rest of the Duggar kids who are over 18, has a GED but no college education. (The Duggars frown on mainstream education and all the kids were homeschooled.) I guess you don’t need a college degree to work in politics now? My guess is that Josh will be involved with a group like Focus On the Family, not working on the Hill. It must be nice to get a job you’re not qualified for because your mom and dad have a reality show.

So, what does this mean for 19 Kids and Counting? The Duggars love to drag the entire family (including Josh’s kids, Grandma, and their aspiring country singer cousin Amy) along with them whenever they go on a trip, so losing Josh and his family means losing four – and soon to be five – extra bodies to drag along every time they go somewhere. And what about that used car lot that Josh is “running”? I’m guessing that it’ll get handed off to a younger brother so that he can establish his own income and then begin the courtship process. And considering how much focus Josh and Anna have gotten this season, they might be in line for a spinoff. Man, I need to go take some deep breaths now.

Update: Josh will reportedly be working at the Family Research Council as a senior (sigh) executive (double sigh).

Filed Under: Reality TV Tagged With: , , , , , , , 31 Comments
  • anjealka

    Thanks for writing such an honest Duggar article (so sick of reading the sugar coated ones). I wonder how he will afford to live in DC? Do these Christain non-profits pay that well? I am not looking forward to JimBob’s bragging about his son and Josh’s instagram photos of how important he is.

    • Lynnie59

      I sense a bit of jealousy here maybe? He will earn a salary working in DC most likely, and has profits from his two car dealerships last I knew.

      • anjealka

        He doesnt own any car delaerships? His dad still owned the both delaerships, he just managed them (if you call it that since the lots had a manager RD & Josh is rarely there). His grandma owned his house so he has never had to pay rent. His main money is TLC but reguardless after researching the non profit he wants to work for they pay 150k a year to these lobbyists so he will be fine and most only work 20-30 hours a week. Not jealous, I have lived in NY and several other big cities, not for me. I do know people that are upset (jealous or whatever you want to call it) that have gone to college and grad school and have studied so hard there whole lives for a job in DC and if they are lucky get one that pays 25k a year in a mailroom & have to work for years to make 150k and pay their dues that these lobbyists get from the start. Not a job I would want. I wish him luck if this is what he wants and Anna wants. Just was commenting more that right now he lives rent free, drives any car he wants off the lot to his work 15 minutes from his house. In DC if they want a home it will mean a 2 hour commute, high rent or mortgage and less family time and a much higher cost of living. It is a big lifestyle change for him and his family. I again hope it works out for him the way he wants.

        • ruth brown

          i am not jealous i live in very house

    • LexiconD1

      Wow, thanks for giving all of us on the internet the perfect example of those who love the Duggars. Name calling, and for Lynnie59, tossing out he ‘jealousy’ card. If you bothered to learn ANYTHING about the cult this family is part of, Google Bill Gothard and ATI, you might find their standing on their pedestals with feet of clay. One GED, no real jobs for anyone, relying on a TV show to pay for their cash cow as well as their myopic and misogynist lifestyle they all wallow in. No thanks, I’ll take my heathen, godless, career women, book reading, single parent, owns own home lifestyle over theirs any day of the week.

      I’m a lot of things, jealous is certainly not one of them.

  • FAIRTV

    How can a person with a GED and no college qualify as an executive with the Family Research Council?

    • tpkyteroo luebeck

      Easy – He has owned a Car business for how long? He was successful, and had two locations, and even hired an employee.

  • lulu

    if this is true, then good for him. i sense that he is a person of character, super-smart, and thinks on his feet. he obviously needs worldly experience and a chance. not having a degree never swayed me when being the interviewer. initials after a name doesn’t prove whether you can do the job or not.
    good luck, josh!

  • dessertgirl

    I think that this is a healthy step for the young family. I hope that some of the older children John David and the girls will also get a chance to experience life off the compound. It’s obvious that they are not finding significant others to begin their own lives with at the big church conferences. It must be hard for them to watch Josh and Anna build their family and not have the same opportunities. How many years can they all live at home?

    • Lynn

      As a Mom of homeschooled kids, I can say our family is VERY close, and live just fine being together, we are all happy, our kids are grown, working, and being out in the dog eat dog world doesn’t always make for a positive life or future either. This family is unique, “old fashioned” family values, so some attack or ridicule them, but, their children are very responsible, happy, and there is plenty of time for being out in the “real world”…Maybe some will not marry, etc.

  • JTN

    As someone who actually has experience with DC, if he does real work (read: not just for show or some fluffy crap to exploit his name) and doesn’t take it seriously, he will be eaten alive. I’m talking tartare and at best, black and blue. In full time policy positions, his job should be extremely demanding and I feel for his wife with young kids.

  • Lynnie59

    You don’t always need a college degree to succeed, perform, work! Our ancestors did just fine without it! duh..With all the cheating going on, constant drinking binges/parties going on in the college atmosphere, how well educated are these students anyway?? It’s way too worshipped in our country and to a fault…I’m sure using his life experience as the oldest of a huge family has much merit. Homeschooled kids are very independent, more creative, have a wider scope of learning, rather than sitting at a desk for 7-8hrs a day, courses are more varied along with the “general” education required to earn a GED. So, don’t think college educated people are any more intelligent or better than those without degrees! I think many envy this family just because they are successful, down to earth and Christians…

    • ruth brown

      my son goes go to state school and he has very high grades in all subjects

  • STFU

    So? Leave them alone loser! (Double sigh) they do not frown on mainstream education or drag anyone along! They chose to homeschool which people from all walks of life all over the world are doing and they chose to spend time together as a family. Why is that so hard to believe? I guess in your opinion it would be better if the girls acted like Lindsay Lohan right? Like your average whore showing the world their boobs and crotch, and the boys could be lazy, disrespectful drunks? Now that would be better! (Sigh) They could call it “Duggar Shore” what a bunch of garbage. Think before you post bullshit here!

    • ruth brown

      my son is not lazy he always do school work what why he has very high grades

    • Rabbit in a hat

      My wife and I do some homeschooling but we encourage our kids to get out and to see and touch things, and to experience viewpoints that are not ours, and to learn from them. Homeschooling is a great option for us, but we have integrated it with making sure that our children learn about all of the cultures of the world, and the contributions that all cultures and religions have made in the workd. We’ve noticed that we are not welcome with some of the other homeschooling groups in our area because of these beliefs. We’ve taken the homeschooling curriculum and added to it with ensuring that our kids are inquisitive, ask questions, critically think, and are prepared for college if they choose to go.

  • jmdel

    Why do I get the impression that whomever writes these articles really hates this family and what they represent. Do you know them personally and have any of them done anything to hurt you personally for you to write so sarcastically. Our country needs more upstanding citizens and more true Americans.

    • Julie

      I really respect the Duggars and what they stand for! I would love to be more like them! They are a huge contribution to society! Josh… car dealer. Jana and Jill midwives, John David enterpeneur… the kids are all learning to serve/volunteer. Michelle and Jim bob have a great relationship together and with their children! I would love to meet them one day!

  • No thanks

    How can you be so judgmental? I’ll never come to this sight again. If you’d like to legitimately report news, try not being so one-sided and biased. Anyone with any kind of journalism degree (which is obvious you don’t have, make you a hypocrite), knows a true reporter relays information. Nice try though. Ha!

  • ksharp7

    He finished his GED at 16, got an online degree in political science while working the dealership.

    The older kids do online school, the girls are doing midwifery and dula stuff. Some go on missions. Some do volunteer fire department.

  • tpkyteroo luebeck

    This author is definitiely 100% AGAINST Christians so vehemently that author does even give a rat arse about accuracy. Patheos must mean pathetic pathological liars.

    1) Duggars are not opposed to their children going on to College or university to further their education.
    2) MANY people work in the political arena and do NOT have a College degree. Just as many have college and university degrees who have proven to have NO intelligence! See any law that got passed that you disagree with for proof.
    3) Joshua Duggar has an employee who helps out a lot at the business and could very easily run the business.

  • KRW

    He is A LOT more qualified for this job than Obama is for his!

    • pc

      ding ding ding! we haaave a winner! the racist who would declare a ged
      holder – as long as he is white – more qualified than a Harvard Law
      graduate and constitutional law professort… KRW HEEEERE is your Sheet!
      Don’t forget to cut eye holes in it….i’d HATE to see you trip over
      anything and bang what little brain you have….

      • dal

        wow, it is so easy to call anyone a racist who is critical of our president, yet it is so hard to defend him with actual facts and arguments. You are the real racist here pc…sad but true.

      • KRW

        I’m Racist??? Exactly why no one takes hypocrites like you seriously… I am far from it UNLIKE YOU “First Obama is mix race” He could be purple with pink polka dots for all I would care if he would be an honest USA leader. He may have a college degree but, a college degree does NOT make him qualified to be president! His degree in Law- taught him to twist the truth for the outcome he wants. Yet you think a man that has lived his life completely faithfully to GOD & FAMILY… not qualified to work at a religious family research council??? It is quite obvious you only see Black & White – Your way of hate & bigotry is VERY SAD and CALAMITOUS. “By the way my sheets are black”.

  • HAUS

    For those of you who are “flipping out” because Joshua Duggar doesn’t have a college degree in DC, you may want to do some research. Some of the most successful Americans in our history didn’t finish college.

    Here are examples of other superstars who did not complete college on their rise to the top:
    – We all know the story of Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Reed College. Since the days of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, many business leaders got their starts without the benefit of degrees, including Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz of Facebook, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Brian Dunn of Best Buy, Anna Wintour of Vogue, Barry Diller of IAC, John Mackey of Whole Foods, David Geffen, Ralph Lauren and Ted Turner.
    – David Plouffe, senior advisor to President Barack Obama and architect of his innovative and historically unprecedented campaign, dropped out of the University of Delaware to work in politics (returning to complete his degree in 2010). President George W. Bush’s top adviser, Karl Rove, and John McCain’s 2008 campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, also lacked degrees.
    – Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, dropped out of Marquette University. He is joined by Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, Gov. Gary Herbert of Utah, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska and 33 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
    – Maya Angelou has received many honorary doctorates but never attended college to learn her craft. She’s in good company with many other great American writers, such as Gore Vidal, August Wilson, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, Joseph Brodsky and Harper Lee.
    – Woody Allen is loved by intellectuals for his philosophical films, but he did not gain his style on a campus, having flunked out of City College of New York. Other Oscar winners without degrees include Clint Eastwood, James Cameron, Robert Redford, Michael Moore, Sidney Pollack, George Clooney, Hillary Swank, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Steven Spielberg (who completed a degree in 2002).
    – Oprah Winfrey left Tennessee State University in 1976 to begin her career in media (completing her degree in 1986). Top talkers without degrees include Larry King, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel, Joy Behar, Rosie O’Donnell and conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
    – Brian Williams attended three schools and completed 18 undergraduate credits before working his way to NBC News anchor. Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor were also anchors without degrees. And many reporters and columnists never completed college, including Nina Totenberg of NPR, Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post and former New York Times columnist and wordsmith William Safire.
    – Alicia Keys has made a name for herself as a singer, songwriter and political activist. She joins an exclusive club of singer/activists without degrees that includes Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Steve Earle and Jon Bon Jovi.

    http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/opinion/schmitz-college

  • http://www.theamericanengineer.com/ Charity

    Totally unqualified. It’s not like Josh has any executive experience running his own business or anything. What could he possibly know about conservative families? He’s probably won’t even be able to handle being in the public’s eyes since he had no experience there either.

    Sometimes actually experiencing things makes you more qualified than just learning about them in a university from some other puppy who’s never had real world experience either.

    • I Escaped From DC

      Washington DC is light years away from Tontitown, Arkansas. These two kids have no college whatsoever. Josh Duggar has a GED, thanks to his home schooling. Just trying to find a place to live is going to put them into shock. Why don’t they just move to one of Jupiter’s moons? It’d be a lot easier. The minimum you need for a real job in DC is a master’s degree. They are going to be overwhelmed very quickly, between the traffic, the prices, the competition for everything, and their own total lack of academic credentials, even the barest minimum. He’s from a hamlet in Arkansas, she’s from rural Florida, for gosh sake. Where on earth do they think they are going to live when a 3 bdrm/2 ba rancher costs hundreds of thousands of dollars?

  • http://www.nykola.com/ Ambra

    Since when does not having a college degree mean he’s not qualified to work in politics, much less on the hill? At age 25 he’s accomplished a whole lot more career wise than most college graduates have by age 30. He’s run a successful small business which pretty much puts him a step above the rest of the 25 year-olds who currently owe 70k in loans to Sallie Mae but are making 45k a year in a job they absolutely hate. You might not care for the Duggar way of life, but I’m sorry, you sound like a bitter hater.

  • Deb

    They are too boring to have their own show. Wish them luck in DC.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lori.d.boucher Lori DeLorenzo Boucher

    I wish them the best and look forward to hearing about their successes and struggles just like the rest of us. I commend Josh & Anna for going forward and trying a new job in a new city! They have chosen to step out of a comfort area and go in a new direction. Good Luck and God Bless!