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On the very date Donald Trump was presented with a tailor-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration released an similarly flamboyant national security strategy. This relatively short paper drips with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically humble claim that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the edge of catastrophe and disaster."

Even though the strategy mostly formalizes the current actions and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious caution for the world, and for Europe specifically.

A Strategy of Intervention and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its language could have been taken straight from addresses by Viktor Orbán during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to reclaim its cultural self-confidence." Even more worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is overshadowed by the genuine and starker prospect of cultural extinction."

The whole section dedicated to Europe is imbued with decades of European right-wing ideology and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and creating conflict, suppression of free speech and stifling of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and erosion of national identities and self-belief." Per the document, if "present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and armed forces strong enough to remain dependable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "in a matter of years at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and proud commemorations of European nations’ unique heritage and past."

Foundational Ideas of the Right-Wing

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

It is the nativist fever dream contained in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it sees its allies: "The United States encourages its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of spirit, and the increasing clout of patriotic 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 movement that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "fostering resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "strengthening 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 implementation, it is obvious that a key aim is to push 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 normalise relations with Russia; or, as the document phrases 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 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. 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 vows to "assert and enforce a Trump addition" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "enlisting" countries worldwide that wish to help protect US national interests.

This is necessarily new – consider JD Vance’s speech 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 at last realize that the situation is serious. And if the document is too long or vague for them, it can be condensed in plain and concise terms: the current US government holds that its national security is most enhanced by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not only an unwilling ally; it is a deliberate adversary. Now is time to respond accordingly.