A corpse just got elected but let's face it he's not the worst politician around

However, the fact that many believe the passing of Dennis Hof only increased his popularity at the ballot box should perhaps give living, breathing candidates pause.

READ MORE: WATCH: Did the White House speed up video of confrontation with CNN reporter?

The theory goes that many voters in the desert state wished to register their support for the Republican party but felt a bit icky about endorsing the author of The Art of The Pimp, who had been accused of sexual abuse, harassment and rape of women working at his chain of legal brothels.

Instead they wanted to show their support for the author of The Art of the Deal, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by nearly two dozen women ranging from his ex-wife to businesswomen and beauty queens, and bragged about grabbing women by the genitals without their consent or even so much as a hello.

The ballot papers had been printed by the time Hof went out with a bang on his 72th birthday, and signs notifying voters that he was an ex-candidate apparently did little to dent his electoral success.

This result raises a lot of questions. Would a local government made up of ghosts do a better job than the current fleshy representatives? How do you draw constituency boundaries in heaven and hell? Can you have your Las Vegas marriage officiated by an ordained zombie pimp? Sorry, I fell down a bit of a Google-search rabbit hole there.

There is, disappointingly, a logical explanation for the result – another Republican will now be found to take Hof’s place.

READ MORE: Tempers flare as Trump tries to take credit for Republican success

Obviously not happy having the limelight hogged by a corpse, or by the record number of women elected to the House of Representatives, Donald Trump decided to cause a scene, like a child at a birthday party wetting his pants because he wasn’t getting any presents.

He did so by declaring a political correspondent a “rude, terrible person” for doing his job and asking questions, and having a minion try to wrestle a microphone from the man’s grasp. Politely, of course.

The Trump team’s subsequent attempts to paint CNN’s Jim Acosta as a woman-touching monster might have been more successful if his alleged victim hadn’t accepted her failure by meekly sinking into the carpet.

Clearly this is a woman who hasn’t been watching enough Premier League football matches, or episodes of Celebrity Big Brother. A dramatic flail to the floor, screaming in pain, followed by a tearful piece to camera would have been much more effective.

Maybe none of this seems like it has much relevance to the UK. As embarrassing and inept as those governing us from Westminster may be, alongside Trump they almost look like learned, dignified statesmen and women. Almost.

But don’t be fooled into thinking everyone on this side of the pond is looking on in horror at the president’s antics. Some of them are taking notes.

Theresa May might not be taking pot shots at journalists during her press conferences, but remember when she held a rally at Crathes village hall in Aberdeenshire that was publicly listed as a child’s birthday party? She might not be praising any political colleagues for bodyslamming reporters, but she did have her press team shut journalists in a room during a factory visit in Cornwall. Why go to the trouble of getting into an undignified slanging match with those holding you to account, when you can just give them the slip instead?

Another valuable lesson Trump is teaching our politicians is that you can tell as many whoppers as you like and still retain a strong base of supporters who are too proud to consider they might have been led up the garden path by an unhinged egomaniac. The lesson is clear: if at first you don’t succeed, lie, then lie again.

Of course, the Brexiteers currently jockeying for position behind Theresa May don’t need any lessons in being economical with the truth, as they had plenty of experience of that before Trump came to power, but don’t be surprised if the fibbing gets even more outrageous.

Witness Esther McVey, picture above, this week, pants ablaze in the House of Commons, suggesting a whole host of charities agree that the Department for Work and Pensions is listening to Universal Credit claimants. Those in charge at mental health charity Mind were, unsurprisingly, none too pleased at being painted as cheerleaders for a policy forcing hundreds of thousands of people with mental health problems to apply afresh for vital benefits.

Of course, McVey’s statement wasn’t entirely divorced from the truth: charities have welcomed the £4.5 billion in additional funding for Universal Credit announced in the Budget. But if someone was punching me in the face while stabbing me in the stomach I would welcome the withdrawal of their fist – that would hardly represent a glowing endorsement of their actions as a whole.

The question now is, are British Tory voters so loyal to their party’s right-wing ideals that they would be willing to accept a ridiculously unsuitable prime minster – A Victorian spook, for example, or a man-child playing at “world king” – as the rest of the world looks on in disbelief? Perhaps come election time they’ll take “male, pale and stale” to its logical conclusion, and stick a blue rosette on a corpse.