🔗 Share this article

On the exact day Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his government released an equally flamboyant national security strategy. This fairly brief report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It begins with the typically modest claim that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the edge of disaster and ruin."

Even though the strategy largely formalizes the ongoing policies and rhetoric of Trump and his cabinet, it must be heeded as a grave warning for the world, and for Europe specifically.

A Strategy of Interference and Civilizational Fear

The document advocates for an assertive form of foreign-policy interference where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its language seems taken straight from addresses by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence." More ominously, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is overshadowed by the genuine and starker prospect of civilizational erasure."

The entire section dedicated to Europe is imbued with decades of European right-wing dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and causing conflict, censorship of free speech and stifling of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss 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 not at all clear whether certain European countries will have economic power and militaries strong enough to remain dependable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "in a matter of years 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 proud commemorations of European nations’ individual character and past."

Core Theories of the Far Right

These points carry strong overtones of two theories seen 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 employed by the German far right to criticise the "decadence" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "Le Grand Remplacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiratorial narrative, accusing European elites of using immigration to replace restive "indigenous" populations and bring in a more docile and reliant electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream contained in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is clear where it identifies its allies: "America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of nationalist European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

The Goal: "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 political force that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" focuses on "fostering opposition to Europe’s present path within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "strengthening the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "aligned countries that want to reclaim their former greatness" – a clear reference to Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays unclear on implementation, it is obvious that a priority is to pressure 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 phrases it, to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not directly called a future ally, the Trump administration clearly does not regard Russia as an adversary either.

A Historical Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a broader sense, the national security strategy draws its ideas less from the idealized US of the 1950s and more from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Articulated by President James Monroe, this warned European powers not to meddle in the "Americas," which he declared to be the US’s zone of influence. 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 protect US national interests.

This is entirely 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 laid out in an formal document, European leaders will finally realize that the stance is serious. And if the document is too long or vague for them, it can be summarised in clear and concise terms: the current US government holds that its national security is best served by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not only an unwilling ally; it is a deliberate adversary. It is time to respond accordingly.