The Duggars may have already been a house built on less than sturdy foundation — but this latest scandal was like a wrecking ball.

For those who somehow haven’t heard, the 19 Kids And Counting family’s eldest son Josh Duggar was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography back in April.

This was not Josh’s first sexual misconduct scandal, not even his first involving children — it had come to light years before that he had molested his underage sisters and their friends when he was a teen. But no one could deny how horrific this was. This was child porn. He wasn’t an underage boy himself, no one could say he was just a confused 14-year-old in need of “good Christian guidance.” This was a grown man who allegedly had videos of children as young as 18 months, what one federal agent said was “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”

Related: Josh Allegedly Kept Hidden ‘Trove’ Of Child Porn Behind Screenshot Of His Family

No one could possibly reasonably defend this behavior. Even TLC had to throw in the towel on their long-running hit show, which had been twice rebranded. After all, who thinks it’s OK to air a show about family guidance when the first child out the door turns out to be such a freakin’ (alleged) monster.

Not even family could stick by his side this time… Right??

Well, remember, these are the parents who covered up the molestation scandal, choosing to get Josh some sort of faith-based counseling which, crucially, kept his record clean — and allowed him to be around children for years afterward. So how are Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar dealing with the fallout?

You guessed it. They’re on Joshie’s side. And it’s ripping the family apart.

A source told People in this week’s issue:

“They aren’t as close as they once were because of all of Josh’s legal drama. It’s creating a lot of stress on them — although the majority of the family is acting like nothing has happened.”

The family insider says the parents “are very much standing by their son” despite how truly sickening the accusations. The source blasts Jim Bob in particular — after all, Michelle believes in being subservient to her man — for the decision to deny any of Josh’s alleged wrongdoing, then AND now:

“Jim Bob always wants to sweep things under the rug. He’s never going to talk about the scandal because it’s bad for business.”

You can’t blame the girls for distancing themselves from the family even more than they already had.

Related: Joy-Anna Supporting Josh? Says She’s Praying ‘The Truth Comes To Light’

As you probably recall, shortly after Josh’s first scandal in 2015, his little sister Jinger Vuolo moved away, eventually making her way with her hubby to Los Angeles. Likewise her big sis Jill Dillard quit Counting On the next year. She later spoke out against the daughter-centric “spinoff,” explaining it was just the same show, which was funneling money back to her father and not to her.

Jill hasn’t seen her parents in more than two years. The other betrayals were enough for her. But the fact Jim Bob and Michelle are supporting Josh yet again?? It’s certainly widening that rift. One person the whole “ignore it until it goes away” defense is working on? Josh Duggar. According to the source, the 33-year-old “really thinks he’s going to get out of it.”

Related: Josh’s Wife Anna Believes He’s ‘Innocent’

Wow. He really thinks he’s going to get out of these serious federal charges using his defense of “hey don’t look too closely at the hands in that child molestation video”?

That just says it all, doesn’t it? He didn’t magically end up this way. This was the kind of parenting that equated normal, healthy sexual urges with perversion — then treated traumatizing sex crimes as a peccadillo a boy could just pray away. Of course he thinks he’s going to get away with this. With half his family he already has. And if it costs them the other half of their clan, well… they don’t need to be 19 Kids. Like we said, no matter how they get rebranded Jim Bob always gets paid.

What do YOU think of the downfall of the Duggars??

[Image via Jessa Seewald/Jill Dillard/Instagram/TLC/YouTube.]

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