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On the exact day Donald Trump was presented with a custom-made "award for peace" from his recent friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his administration published an equally ostentatious national security strategy. This relatively short report drips with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest claim that the president has rescued "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of catastrophe and ruin."

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

A Blueprint of Interference and Cultural Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US clearly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its rhetoric seems lifted directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to reclaim its civilizational self-assurance." 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 generations of European right-wing dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "transforming the continent and creating conflict, suppression of free speech and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities 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 some European countries will have economic power and armed forces strong enough to be dependable allies." In fact, the Trump administration believes that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to stand up for authentic democracy, free speech, and proud celebrations of European nations’ unique heritage and past."

Core Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful echoes of two theories seen as core for contemporary far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was employed by the German far right to attack the "decadence" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," released 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 replace restive "native" populations and bring in a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nativist fever dream contained in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "America encourages its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of spirit, and the increasing clout of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

Put simply, the US contends that it is essential to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the only movement that can accomplish this. Therefore, its "broad policy for Europe" focuses on "fostering resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "strengthening the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "nations in agreement that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on implementation, it is apparent that a key aim is to pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – particularly regarding right-wing speech – and not limited to social media. Another is to normalize relations with Russia; or, as the document calls 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 enemy either.

A Historical Blueprint: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, the national security strategy takes its inspiration 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 "western hemisphere," which he declared to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document promises 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 perhaps now that it is published in an formal document, European leaders will at last understand that the stance is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in plain and succinct terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not only an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. It is time to respond appropriately.