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On the exact day Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his administration published an similarly ostentatious national security strategy. This fairly short paper drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically humble assertion that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the edge of disaster and ruin."

Even though the strategy mostly formalizes the current policies and statements of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious warning for the international community, and for the European continent specifically.

A Blueprint of Interference and Civilizational Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US clearly sets the goal of "fostering European strength." Its language could have been taken directly from addresses by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is overshadowed by the genuine and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure."

The whole section on Europe is imbued with decades of European right-wing dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "changing the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free expression and suppression of dissent, plummeting birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity and self-belief." According to the document, if "current trajectories 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 economies and militaries powerful enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become majority non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to stand up for authentic democracy, free speech, and proud celebrations of European nations’ unique heritage and history."

Core Ideas of the Far Right

These arguments carry powerful overtones of two concepts regarded as core for contemporary right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose argument on the cyclical decline 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 transformed long-existing "indigenous" fears into a more explicit conspiratorial narrative, accusing European elites of using immigration to replace rebellious "native" populations and bring in a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream 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 revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism."

The Objective: "Make Europe Great Again"

Put simply, the US contends that it is key to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the only movement that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "overarching strategy for Europe" prioritises "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" – specifically "aligned countries that want to reclaim their past glory" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays vague on methods, it is apparent that a priority is to pressure Europe to adopt a radical policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – particularly regarding far-right speech – and not limited to 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 evidently does not treat Russia as an adversary either.

An Ideological Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a broader sense, the national security strategy takes its inspiration 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 meddle in the "western hemisphere," which he proclaimed 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 "recruiting" 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 ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is published in an official document, European leaders will finally realize that the stance is serious. And if the document is too long or imprecise for them, it can be summarised in clear and succinct terms: the current US government holds that its national security is best served 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.