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On the very date Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his recent friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his administration published an similarly ostentatious national security strategy. This fairly brief report is saturated with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically modest assertion that the president has rescued "the United States and the globe – back from the brink of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the document mostly codifies the current actions and rhetoric of Trump and his cabinet, it must be heeded as a serious warning for the international community, and for the European continent specifically.

A Strategy of Interference and Cultural Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "fostering European greatness." Its language could have been taken straight from speeches by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to stay European, to reclaim its cultural self-confidence." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is overshadowed by the genuine and starker prospect of civilizational erasure."

The whole section dedicated to Europe is imbued with generations of European far-right dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "transforming the continent and causing conflict, censorship of free expression and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity and self-belief." According to the document, if "present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable 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 remain dependable 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 champion genuine democracy, free speech, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry strong echoes of two concepts seen as core for modern far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to attack the "perversion" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiratorial narrative, accusing European elites of using immigration to replace restive "indigenous" populations and bring in a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream contained in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "The United States encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing clout of patriotic European parties indeed 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 "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the only political force 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 "strengthening the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "aligned countries that want to reclaim their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays vague on methods, it is apparent that a priority is to push Europe to adopt a radical policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with the US model – especially 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.

An Ideological Blueprint: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, the national security strategy draws its ideas less from the idealized US of the 1950s and more from the 1823 policy of 1823. Proclaimed by President James Monroe, this warned European powers not to interfere in the "Americas," which he declared to be the US’s zone of influence. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "assert and enforce a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "enlisting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

None of this is necessarily new – recall JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president launched an assault 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 lengthy or vague for them, it can be condensed in clear and concise 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 unwilling ally; it is a willing adversary. It is time to respond accordingly.