Thread by @sarahposner

@BostonDukeman @AntheaButler In all my reporting on Gothard over the years, that was the thing that astounded me the most: that people took advice on marriage and relationships and childrearing from a guy who had never been married or even, as far as I could tell, never had any kind of romantic relationship.

@BostonDukeman @AntheaButler But, as I reported in that piece, he was seen by followers as a "modern-day Apostle Paul."

@BostonDukeman @AntheaButler But let's not forget that TLC whitewashed this history with Gothard and the Duggars in the quest for ratings, portraying the Duggars as a pious but cute family rather than followers of a religious extremist who abused people.

@BostonDukeman @AntheaButler But Gothard was not some rando on the fringes of evangelicalism (although many evangelicals would say that). He had tight relationships with many people in power, who held and still hold public office.

@AntheaButler TFW you reported a story six years ago and the details still blow your mind:

@AntheaButler Here's a 1997 Gothard newsletter touting the support of then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to bring a Gothard program to a public school system in the state.

Today's news about Josh Duggar led me to re-read my own reporting on the Duggars and Gothard, who I'd reported on since 2011, and then again for @TPM in 2015.

It is very difficult to wrap your mind around the totalizing environment Gothard created.

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@TPM And this -- I had forgotten about this, when he wrote to me after an interview.

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