Historian Christopher Clark considers Trump to be frightening.

Renowned historian Christopher Clark warns about the US government under Donald Trump.

“The renowned historian Christopher Clark warns about the US government under Donald Trump”

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The US president governs without 'values and norms'.

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'That is terrifying,' Clark told the news agency dpa, noting that Trump possesses great power and enormous destructive potential but appears to be waging war against Iran without a plan.

The Iranian government has indeed been a factor of insecurity in the Middle East for decades and has repeatedly acted against its own population in ways that violate human rights.

'But you cannot simply wipe out regimes and assassinate their government personnel because they are terrible,' Clark added.

Also notable about the Trump administration is the brutal communication style.

Particularly alarming is the rhetoric of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

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The former television commentator had, among other things, said that the war against Iran was never supposed to be a fair fight: 'We strike at them while they lie on the ground, and it should be exactly like that.'

'The current US administration operates from the outset without values and norms.'

Clark said: 'No American minister before him would have addressed the public in such a way.'

Some say that at least it is honest language and not as much hypocrisy as before.

I am of a completely different opinion.

First, a lot is concealed and veiled by this government.

What happens behind the scenes we will probably learn much later.

And second, a certain degree of hypocrisy is indeed to be preferred.

For it arises when one is at least fundamentally committed to a code of values, even if one does not always live up to it.

By professing to norms, one creates the basis for joint action.

'The current US government operates from the outset without values and norms.'

'I say: Back to the era of hypocrisy, please!'

Clark says NATO is weak as it has ever been.

“The renowned historian Christopher Clark warns about the US government under Donald Trump”

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'One point that worries me is the dwindling mutual trust within the Western alliance,' he said.

'NATO looks weaker today than at any time in its history, primarily due to the loss of trust by the United States, especially this president—though there was already a cooling under Obama and Biden.'

The more NATO cohesion declines, the more each state must try to secure itself on its own.

'The number of actors is increasing, and with it the complexity and unpredictability of the system as a whole.'

Overall defense spending is currently probably higher than at any other time since the end of the Cold War.

Clark was in Cologne to present his new book 'Scandal in Königsberg' at the Lit.Cologne literary festival.

It concerns a scandal surrounding two Lutheran preachers in the Prussian city during the Biedermeier period in the mid-19th century.

Clark has examined the relationships of the great powers and alliances in his international bestseller 'The Sleepwalkers'.

'The current situation is completely different from 1914,' he stated.

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'We are not dealing today with two opposing blocs of alliances as at that time, but with a situation that is hard to grasp and brings many uncertainties.'

One difference is that there was not such a clear aggressor then as today with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Clark regards NATO as weak as it has ever been.

Clark was in Cologne to present his new book 'Scandal in Königsberg' at the Lit.Cologne literary festival.

It concerns a scandal surrounding two Lutheran preachers in the Prussian city during the Biedermeier period in the mid-19th century.