🔗 Share this article

On the very day Donald Trump was presented with a tailor-made "award for peace" from his newest ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration released an similarly ostentatious national security strategy. This fairly short report is saturated with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically modest claim that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster."

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

A Blueprint of Interference and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference where the US clearly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its language could have been lifted straight from speeches by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to reclaim its cultural self-confidence." More ominously, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the genuine and starker prospect of civilizational erasure."

The whole section dedicated to Europe is imbued with decades of European far-right dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "changing the continent and causing conflict, suppression of free expression and stifling of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities 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 far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economic power and armed forces powerful enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration believes that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to stand up for authentic democracy, free speech, and proud celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Foundational Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful echoes of two theories regarded as foundational for modern far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to attack the "decadence" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" fears into a more explicit conspiracy theory, accusing European elites of using immigration to substitute restive "indigenous" populations and import a more submissive and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document implies. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "The United States encourages its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of national spirit, and the growing clout of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for great optimism."

The Goal: "Make Europe Great Again"

Put simply, the US believes that it is essential to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the sole movement that can achieve this. Therefore, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "fostering resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "strengthening the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "nations in agreement that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains unclear on methods, it is obvious that a priority is to pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – especially regarding far-right speech – and not limited to social media. Another is to normalize relations with Russia; or, as the document phrases it, to "restore strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not explicitly called a future ally, the Trump administration evidently does not regard Russia as an adversary either.

An Ideological Precedent: 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. Articulated by President James Monroe, this cautioned European powers not to interfere in the "Americas," which he proclaimed 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 involves the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

This is necessarily new – consider JD Vance’s address at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president unleashed an assault on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is published in an official document, European leaders will finally realize that the situation is serious. And if the document is too lengthy or vague for them, it can be condensed in clear and concise terms: the current US government holds that its national security is most enhanced by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not just an reluctant ally; it is a willing adversary. It is time to act accordingly.