🔗 Share this article

On the exact date Donald Trump received a tailor-made "peace prize" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his government released an similarly flamboyant security policy document. This fairly short report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically humble claim that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of disaster and ruin."

Even though the document mostly codifies the ongoing actions and statements of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a grave caution for the world, and for the European continent in particular.

A Strategy of Interference and Cultural Anxiety

The document advocates for an assertive 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 Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to regain its cultural self-assurance." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is overshadowed by the genuine and more stark possibility of civilizational erasure."

The entire section on Europe is imbued with generations of European far-right dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "changing the continent and causing conflict, suppression of free expression and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity and self-belief." Per 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 be reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and past."

Foundational Theories of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful echoes of two theories seen as foundational for modern right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose thesis on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to criticise the "perversion" 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 "indigenous" fears into a more overt 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 nationalist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "The United States urges its ideological partners in Europe to promote this resurgence of spirit, and the growing clout of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

In other words, the US contends that it is essential to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the sole movement that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "building up the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on methods, it is apparent that a priority is to push Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – particularly 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 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 meddle in the "western hemisphere," which he declared 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 necessarily new – recall JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president unleashed an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is laid out in an formal document, European leaders will finally understand that the situation is grave. And if the document is too long or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in plain and concise terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not just an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. Now is time to act appropriately.