🔗 Share this article

On the exact date Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration released an similarly ostentatious national security strategy. This relatively short paper is saturated with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest assertion that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the edge of disaster and ruin."

Even though the document largely formalizes the ongoing 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 Cultural Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US clearly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its language seems taken straight from addresses by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to regain its cultural self-assurance." Even more ominously, the document states that Europe's "economic decline is overshadowed by the genuine and more stark prospect of cultural extinction."

The whole section on Europe is steeped in decades of European far-right ideology and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free speech and stifling of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity and self-confidence." According to the document, if "present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less. As such, it is not at all clear whether certain European countries will have economic power and armed forces powerful enough to be reliable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration asserts that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ unique heritage and past."

Foundational Theories of the Far Right

These arguments carry powerful overtones of two concepts seen as core 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 employed by the German far right to attack the "decadence" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, alleging European elites of using immigration to replace restive "native" populations and bring in a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nativist fantasy contained 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: "America encourages its ideological partners in Europe to advance this resurgence of spirit, and the increasing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Goal: "Restore European Greatness"

Put simply, 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 "fostering resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "strengthening the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "nations in agreement that want to restore their past glory" – a clear reference to Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on methods, it is apparent that a key aim is to push Europe to adopt a radical policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – particularly regarding right-wing speech – and not limited to 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 directly called a future ally, the Trump administration clearly does not treat Russia as an enemy either.

An Ideological Blueprint: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, 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 interfere in the "Americas," which he proclaimed to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document promises to "implement a Trump addition" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help protect US national interests.

This is necessarily new – recall JD Vance’s address at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president unleashed an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But perhaps now that it is published in an official document, European leaders will at last understand that the situation is serious. And if the document is too lengthy or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in clear and succinct 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 only an reluctant ally; it is a willing adversary. Now is time to act appropriately.