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On the very day Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his administration published an equally ostentatious national security strategy. This relatively short paper is saturated with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest claim that the president has brought back "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the document mostly codifies the current actions and statements of Trump and his cabinet, it must be taken as a grave warning for the international community, and for Europe in particular.

A Strategy 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 language could have been lifted directly from speeches by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called migration emergency of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to regain its cultural self-confidence." Even more ominously, the document states that Europe's "economic decline is overshadowed by the real and starker possibility of cultural extinction."

The entire section on Europe is steeped in decades of European far-right dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "transforming the continent and causing strife, censorship of free expression and suppression of dissent, plummeting birthrates, and erosion of national identities and self-belief." Per the document, if "current trajectories 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 militaries powerful enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and past."

Core Theories of the Far Right

These points carry strong echoes of two concepts seen as foundational for modern 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 "decadence" 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 explicit conspiracy theory, accusing European elites of using immigration to substitute restive "native" populations and import a more submissive and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream contained in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the duty, to interfere in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it sees its allies: "The United States encourages its ideological partners in Europe to advance this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

The Goal: "Make Europe Great Again"

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 accomplish this. Therefore, its "overarching strategy for Europe" prioritises "fostering resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "building up the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "nations in agreement that want to restore their former greatness" – a clear reference to Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains unclear on methods, it is apparent that a key aim is to pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with 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 calls it, to "restore strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not directly called a future ally, the Trump administration evidently 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 1823 policy of 1823. Articulated by President James Monroe, this cautioned European powers not to interfere in the "western hemisphere," which he proclaimed to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "assert and enforce a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help protect US national interests.

None of this is necessarily new – recall JD Vance’s address at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president launched an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is published in an formal document, European leaders will at last realize that the stance is grave. And if the document is too long 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. Now is time to act accordingly.