Phillipp-Anders Rau, a candidate for Germany’s Bundestag — their Parliament — with the Alternative für Deutschland party, showed off photos of him hanging out with Donald Trump on Election Night at Mar-a-Lago.

What’s so weird about that? After all, he hosted a lot of big-name guests that night, and has made inroads with multiple politicians around the world. There are more than a handful of up-and-comers both foreign and domestic who might post something to their Instagram commemorating their meeting with Trump.

“Being able to shake @realdonaldtrump’s hand as the one and only AfD member there on the day of his victory will be an everlasting memory,” he said.

Rau, however, is different than most of those guests because of his very dodgy history. Once convicted of stealing from a hotel, Rau has also been variously accused of doctoring his high school transcripts, having a coke addiction, and starring in low-budget pornography.

Say WHAT now? A Secret Service spokesperson says “In this instance, this individual was physically screened and permitted to enter because he was included on a formal invitation.” Yeah, I’d try and get out in front of this too, I suppose.

You’ll note that I said “accused” above, but let me clarify that I’m just being extremely generous in saying that. It’s not that any of that stuff hasn’t either landed him in court or gotten mentioned in court. It’s just that the cases are ongoing, and I’m a big “until proven guilty” guy.

Rau has actually admitted that he doctored his high school transcripts in order to get into Magdeburg-Stendal University’s journalism and media management program. He swears, however, that he didn’t intend to submit the “draft” version of his forgery in to the school. He says he was in an argument with his partner and that they had sent the transcript in to get him in trouble.

The University got an anonymous tip and expelled him, after which Rau sued the school. His lawyer says that Rau doesn’t have a clear memory of exactly what happened, on account of all the cocaine he was doing at the time. If that seems like a flimsy defense, then you’re clearly at least as smart as the judge who threw out his lawsuit.

His lawyer tried to get media coverage by Volksstimme (People’s Voice) and the Mitteldeutsche (Central German) newspaper banned from public release, to no avail.

But just in case he hadn’t screwed his chances of ever being a public figure of any note thoroughly enough, Rau decided to make the baffling decision to star in some pornographic films. Well, allegedly, anyway. He initially denied any such thing outright, then clarified that he didn’t shoot any professional porn, and certainly not anything he’d have gotten paid for.

Yeah, okay. That does make it kind of weird that a German court said “[Rau] took part in a professional porn video shoot that was clearly intended for publication.”

Oh, ANNNNNNND this guy is in court for bankruptcy proceedings. Phew! I think that covers it.

So what to do when you desperately want to be a somebody but you’ve already made an ass of yourself on the national stage multiple times? Well, you take a page from Donald Trump’s book How to Keep Being Relevant After Failing at Everything You’ve Ever Done.

Okay, Trump didn’t write a book called that. But he could. It would probably sell better than Art of the Deal.

Seriously, though. The trick, apparently, is that you just run for public office as a hard-right candidate like Trump. You sit down with neo-Nazis like Trump, you talk about banning Muslims from entering your country like Trump, and you focus on mass deportations like Trump.

Honestly, the parallels between this kid and Donald Trump are Reich-staggering. This kid faked his way into school; Trump owned a fake school. Rau stole from a hotel; Trump uses his hotels to steal from people. Rau allegedly did porn that he denies; Trump to this day is very suspiciously cagey about the existence of a video of him engaging in unconventional sexual activities with Russian sex workers.

Hey, perfect opportunity for my favorite Trump joke! Don’t tell anyone you got it here, though. What’s the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean? Donald Trump has never had a garbanzo bean on his face.

Alright, alright. You have to admit, though — it makes you wonder how long this kid has looked up to Trump. Does Rau have a copy of Mein Kampf on his OWN nightstand, as Trump is reported to have?

Nothing could surprise me at this point.