🔗 Share this article

On the very date Donald Trump received a tailor-made "peace prize" from his newest ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his government released an equally flamboyant national security strategy. This relatively brief report is saturated with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest claim that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the edge of disaster and disaster."

Even though the strategy mostly formalizes the current actions and rhetoric of Trump and his cabinet, it must be taken as a grave warning for the world, and for Europe in particular.

A Blueprint of Intervention and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "fostering European strength." Its language could have been taken directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to reclaim its cultural self-assurance." More ominously, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is eclipsed by the genuine and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure."

The whole section on Europe is imbued with decades of European far-right dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and causing strife, censorship of free expression and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and erosion of national identities and self-belief." According to the document, if "current trajectories continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economic power and militaries powerful enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and unapologetic commemorations of European nations’ unique heritage and past."

Foundational Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry strong echoes of two theories regarded as foundational for contemporary far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was used by the German far right to criticise the "decadence" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "Le Grand Remplacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiratorial narrative, alleging European elites of using immigration to substitute rebellious "indigenous" populations and import a more submissive and reliant electorate.

It is the nationalist fantasy encapsulated in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the duty, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "The United States urges its political allies in Europe to promote this resurgence of national spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for great optimism."

The Objective: "Make Europe Great Again"

In other words, the US contends that it is essential to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the sole political force that can achieve this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "fostering opposition to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "building up the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains unclear on methods, it is obvious that a key aim is to pressure Europe to adopt a radical policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with the US model – especially regarding far-right speech – and not just on social media. Another is to normalize relations with Russia; or, as the document calls it, to "restore strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not explicitly called a future ally, the Trump administration clearly does not regard Russia as an enemy either.

A Historical Blueprint: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, the national security strategy takes its inspiration less from the glorified US of the 1950s and more from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Proclaimed by President James Monroe, this warned European powers not to interfere in the "western hemisphere," which he declared to be the US’s zone of influence. The Trump administration’s policy document promises to "assert and enforce a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "enlisting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

None of this is entirely new – recall JD Vance’s address 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 realize that the situation is grave. And if the document is too long or vague for them, it can be summarised in clear and succinct terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not only an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. It is time to respond accordingly.