What???
Trump has so many weird friends:
As Donald Trump gathered his supporters, family and friends at Mar-a-Lago on US election day last month to wait for the results to trickle in, a small group of far-right Germans went largely unnoticed.
Among them was the purported semi-professional, one-time porn actor, self-confessed former cocaine user, convicted thief and hard-right candidate for the German parliament Phillipp-Anders Rau. Together with a compact delegation of young political activists and influencers, Rau posed for the cameras with the American president-elect at his invitation, chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” in English and German.
Members of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party had already been making inroads with the Trump camp for several months before the US vote, as Europe’s populist anti-migration forces attempt to harness Maga’s momentum before Germany’s general election in February.
Alice Weidel, the AfD leader, became one of the first politicians abroad to welcome Trump’s victory, and party members say they are cultivating proximity to the incoming administration, with a few planning to attend next month’s inauguration in Washington.
Rau, an AfD candidate for the Bundestag from Saxony-Anhalt state, posted snapshots on Instagram of his brief encounter with Trump in Florida on 5 November, with voting still under way.
“It will remain an everlasting memory, being allowed as the first and until now only member of the AfD to shake the hand of @realdonaldtrump on the day of his victory,” he wrote. “We hope that Donald Trump will create the renewal for his country that we as the AfD plan for our country.”
They all chanted “Fight, Fight, Fight” in both English and German, so that was nice.
[T]he young men’s enthusiasm for Trump, 78, and giddy bewilderment at their arrival at his private club are less surprising than how they ended up at his side in the first place, with the meeting’s origins remaining murky.
Rau is a divisive figure even within the anti-migrant, anti-Islam AfD. He belongs to a state chapter that the domestic security agency has classified as confirmed rightwing extremist, while the national party has been deemed suspected rightwing extremist.
The 41-year-old has taken legal action against the Magdeburger Volksstimme newspaper, which published a series on a number of suspected scandals in Rau’s past.
He denies being a “paid porn actor” but the courts have ruled that he was. He was also convicted of fraud and theft so you can certainly see why Trump likes the guy. They have a lot in common. And according to the articcle, these aren’t the only German neo-Nazis Trump has been seen with in recent years. They seem to be very welcome in the Trump inner circle.
This particular group has ties to the New York Young Republicans, which figures:
Last April, in exchange, young New York Republicans were invited by the AfD to Berlin and Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt state – while Rau, Schmidt and other AfD officials later photographed themselves volunteering with Trump’s campaign in Florida. “As a thank you there was a handful of tickets for Trump’s election party,” said Bild, which quoted Schmidt as saying he and an entourage would be at the inauguration in January.
