<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has been called a \u201creality television president\u201d so many times by his detractors (or the detractors of reality television), it no longer feels clever. Or even much of an insult. Still he appears to be doubling down on that reputation after pardoning Todd and Julie Chrisley<\/a>, the stars of the long-running and shockingly popular USA Network reality show \u201cChrisley Knows Best.\u201d (USA Network is owned by NBCUniversal, MSNBC’s parent company.)<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s lawyer, Alex Little, in material he prepared for the Justice Department asking for a pardon, said their conviction<\/a> \u201cexemplifies the weaponization of justice against conservatives and public figures, eroding basic constitutional protections.\u201d<\/p>\n While Little would disagree, I don\u2019t think we\u2019re looking at a witch hunt here. Indeed, as any scholar of the reality television arts and sciences will tell you, the Chrisleys are actually late to a well-established trend. <\/p>\n It only ceased production because the principal characters became indisposed, and by \u201cindisposed\u201d I mean that they were sent to prison. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cChrisley Knows Best\u201d centered around Todd Chrisley, a \u201cflamboyant\u201d Southern real-estate mogul who was always hounding his children and freaking out when things didn\u2019t go his way. The producers were clearly working to create a sitcomlike vibe, but less in the mold of \u201cFriends\u201d and more like the old three-camera series starring men such as Jim Belushi or Kevin James as underappreciated, breadwinning heroes with inexplicably hot wives.<\/p>\n The show ran from 2014 to 2023 and also included a separate spinoff on E! (E! is also owned by NBCUniversal.) It only ceased production because the principal characters became indisposed, and by \u201cindisposed\u201d I mean that they were sent to prison. <\/p>\n The Chrisleys, unlike their sitcom counterparts, were conspicuously wealthy rather than working class. The proud owner of a very American McMansion, they made most of their money buying, selling and flipping similar homes in suburban environments in Southern states. The lavish lifestyle, however, was not entirely legitimate. In 2022, Todd was sentenced to 12 years in prison<\/a> and Julie to seven for their involvement in a tax and mortgage fraud scheme that predates the premiere of their show in 2014. The show itself made them plenty of money, and the couple was also convicted of trying to hide that income from the IRS and skipping out on nearly $500,000 in back taxes. (Julie\u2019s conviction was vacated on appeal in 2024 after a judge decided prosecutors did not tie her specifically to the very first year of the bank-fraud scheme<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Prosecutors proved the couple had bilked Atlanta-area banks out of $36 million<\/a> by applying for mortgages with fake documents, not repaying loans, and taking out false loans just to repay the old false loans. They used that money on a classic reality TV smorgasbord \u2014 designer clothes, exotic cars and flashy trips. But the self-made element of their wealth was always an important part of their brand. <\/p>\n The other part of Todd\u2019s brand is flamboyance. His love of fashion and Botox has long made him the subject of rumors about his sexual orientation \u2014 rumors that he always shut down<\/a>. His affect is sort of like if Snagglepuss<\/a> and Charles Nelson Riley<\/a> had a gay child through surrogacy. <\/p>\n It was always a weird conceit that seemed to contrast with the show\u2019s more traditional \u201cfamily values\u201d themes and fan base. Indeed, leveraging that conservative base and deploying the Trumpian language of victimhood that may have helped secure the Chrisleys their pardon. It\u2019s no coincidence that Savannah Chrisley, the couple\u2019s daughter who is featured prominently in the show, argued in prime time last summer at the Republican National Convention<\/a> that her family was targeted by \u201crogue prosecutors.\u201d <\/p>\n In reality TV fashion, the truth is less exciting. Reality television attracts extreme personalities because that is what pops on camera and connects with fans. Extreme personalities do extreme things \u2014 and that sometimes means breaking the law.<\/p>\n The television age we\u2019re currently experiencing was arguably ushered in by the runaway success of \u201cSurvivor\u201d in the summer of 2000. Richard Hatch, who is gay, took home the inaugural $1 million prize. In 2006, Hatch was sentenced to 51 months in prison<\/a> for not declaring his winnings to the IRS. Post prison, he appeared on \u201cCelebrity Apprentice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReal Housewives of New Jersey\u201d star Teresa Giudice was also on \u201cCelebrity Apprentice\u201d in 2012 \u2014 only to be fired by Trump himself. Like the Chrisleys, she and her husband, Joe, were known for spending money freely, including dropping $120,000 on furniture<\/a> in the show\u2019s pilot episode. Teresa paid in cash. In 2013, she and Joe pled guilty to mail, wire and bank fraud<\/a> for taking out loans with fraudulent documents, also much like the Chrisleys. Teresa got 15 months in prison (but only served 11<\/a>) and Joe served 41 months. <\/p>\n Trump likely guessed he could use the Chrisleys and their story unlike, say, Jen Shah\u2019s tale of woe. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since the Italian-born Joe never became a naturalized citizen, he was scheduled to be deported in 2019 during Trump\u2019s first term. Teresa and Joe said they never formally asked<\/a> for a pardon from the then-president, the couple\u2019s eldest daughter, Gia Giudice, set up a Change.org petition<\/a> to \u201crequest that our President, Donald J Trump review our petition and pardon my father.\u201d The pardon never came. While Trump might have some sympathy for people who commit loan fraud, after all, a New York judge did find Trump and the Trump Organization had committed civil fraud.<\/a> But he shows very little leniency for illegal immigrants. <\/p>\n In 2022, \u201cReal Housewives of Salt Lake City\u201d star Jen Shah pleaded guilty to wire fraud<\/a> and is serving out a 6\u00bd year sentence, though it\u2019s been repeatedly shortened<\/a>. The estranged husband of \u201cReal Housewives of Beverly Hills\u201d star Erika Jayne was convicted of fraud last summer<\/a>. (She has not been accused of any involvement in the fraud and denies all wrongdoing<\/a>.) Peter Thomas, who was on \u201cReal Housewives of Atlanta\u201d when he was married to star Cynthia Bailey, just pleaded guilty to not paying his taxes<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Trump likely guessed he could use the Chrisleys and their story unlike, say, Jen Shah\u2019s tale of woe. This pardon sends a message to MAGA world: Yes, the deep state is out to get you and other hard-working, God-fearing Americans. Or at least it was under President Joe Biden. And the only person who can stop the injustice is President Donald J. Trump. With a swipe of his overworked pen, Trump not only freed Todd and Julie \u2014 he might have also gotten their show back on the air. <\/p>\n This narrative, like so many of the canned storylines on \u201cChrisley Knows Best\u201c is an illusion. Not that it matters to Trump\u2019s fans. There\u2019s no nefarious plot here; that would be more interesting. Law enforcement agents aren\u2019t targeting reality TV stars, they\u2019re just following the evidence. And sometimes that evidence is beamed directly into millions of homes across America. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.msnbc.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald Trump has been called a \u201creality television president\u201d so many times by his detractors (or the detractors of reality television), it no longer feels clever. Or even much of an insult. Still he appears to be doubling down on that reputation after pardoning Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of the long-running and shockingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1981711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1981710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Chrisleys-stole-money-Then-Trump-pardoned-them-Thats-not.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1981710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1981711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1981710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1981710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1981710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}