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On the exact day Donald Trump received a tailor-made "award for peace" from his recent ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration published an similarly ostentatious security policy document. This fairly brief paper is saturated with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest assertion that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster."

Even though the strategy mostly formalizes the ongoing actions and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a grave warning for the world, and for Europe in particular.

A Strategy of Intervention and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "fostering European greatness." Its rhetoric could have been lifted directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to regain its cultural self-assurance." Even more ominously, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the real and starker prospect of cultural extinction."

The whole section on Europe is steeped in decades of European far-right dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "changing the continent and creating strife, suppression of free expression and suppression of dissent, plummeting birthrates, and erosion of sovereign identity and self-confidence." Per 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 some European countries will have economic power and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "in a matter of years at the latest, certain NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to stand up for authentic democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic commemorations of European nations’ unique heritage and past."

Core Ideas of the Right-Wing

These arguments carry powerful echoes 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 used by the German far right to attack the "perversion" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "indigenous" fears into a more overt conspiratorial narrative, alleging European elites of using immigration to replace rebellious "native" populations and bring in a more docile and reliant electorate.

It is the nativist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it identifies its allies: "America encourages its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of spirit, and the increasing influence of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

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 political force that can achieve this. Consequently, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating opposition 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 "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 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 treat Russia as an adversary either.

An Ideological Blueprint: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, the national security strategy takes its inspiration less from the glorified US of the 1950s and more from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Proclaimed by President James Monroe, this warned 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 addition" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "enlisting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

This is entirely new – consider JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president unleashed an assault on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is published in an official document, European leaders will finally understand that the stance is grave. And if the document is too long or vague for them, it can be condensed in plain and succinct 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 appropriately.