🔗 Share this article

On the exact day Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his government released an similarly flamboyant national security strategy. This relatively short report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically humble assertion that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the strategy largely formalizes the current policies and statements of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious warning for the international community, and for Europe specifically.

A Blueprint of Intervention and Civilizational Fear

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference where the US clearly sets the goal of "promoting European strength." Its rhetoric seems lifted directly from addresses by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to reclaim its cultural self-assurance." Even more ominously, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is overshadowed by the genuine and starker prospect of cultural extinction."

The entire section on Europe is imbued with decades of European right-wing dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free expression and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and erosion of sovereign identity and self-belief." According to the document, if "present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is not at all clear whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries powerful enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Ideas of the Far Right

These points carry powerful overtones of two concepts seen as core for modern far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was employed by the German far right to attack the "perversion" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, accusing European elites of using immigration to replace restive "native" populations and import a more submissive and reliant electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the authority, if not the duty, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it sees its allies: "America encourages its ideological partners in Europe to advance this resurgence of national spirit, and the growing influence of nationalist European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Goal: "Make Europe Great Again"

In other words, the US believes that it is key to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the sole political force that can achieve this. Therefore, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "building up the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "aligned countries that want to reclaim their former greatness" – a clear reference to Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains unclear on implementation, it is obvious that a key aim is to push Europe to adopt a radical policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with the US model – especially regarding right-wing speech – and not limited to social media. Another is to normalise relations with Russia; or, as the document calls it, to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not directly called a future ally, the Trump administration evidently does not regard Russia as an adversary either.

An Ideological Blueprint: The Monroe Doctrine

In a broader sense, the national security strategy draws its ideas less from the idealized US of the 1950s and more from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Proclaimed by President James Monroe, this warned European powers not to meddle in the "western hemisphere," which he proclaimed to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "implement a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "enlisting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

None of this is entirely new – consider JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president launched an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is laid out in an official document, European leaders will at last understand that the situation is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in clear and succinct terms: the current US government believes that its national security is best served by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not only an reluctant ally; it is a willing adversary. Now is time to respond appropriately.