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On the very date Donald Trump was presented with a custom-made "peace prize" from his recent friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration released an equally ostentatious national security strategy. This relatively short report is saturated with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically modest claim that the president has rescued "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of disaster and ruin."

Even though the strategy largely formalizes the ongoing actions and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a grave caution for the international community, and for Europe specifically.

A Strategy of Interference and Civilizational Anxiety

The document advocates for an assertive form of foreign-policy interference where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its rhetoric could have been lifted directly from speeches by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to reclaim its civilizational self-assurance." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure."

The whole section on Europe is imbued with generations of European far-right dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free expression and stifling of dissent, plummeting birthrates, and erosion 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 far from obvious whether some European countries will have economies and armed forces strong enough to remain dependable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to champion authentic democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Foundational Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful echoes of two concepts regarded as core for contemporary far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," 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 "Le Grand Remplacement," released 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 "native" populations and import a more submissive and reliant electorate.

It is the nativist fantasy encapsulated in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the duty, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is evident where it sees its allies: "America urges its ideological partners in Europe to promote this resurgence of spirit, and the growing clout of nationalist European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

In other words, the US believes that it is essential to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the sole movement that can achieve this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "building up the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "nations in agreement that want to restore their past glory" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays unclear on methods, it is obvious 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 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 clearly does not treat Russia as an enemy either.

A Historical Blueprint: 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 1823 policy of 1823. Articulated by President James Monroe, this cautioned European powers not to interfere 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 addition" 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 launched an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But perhaps now that it is laid out in an formal document, European leaders will at last realize that the stance is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or vague for them, it can be summarised in clear and succinct terms: the current US government believes that its national security is best served by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not just an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. It is time to respond appropriately.