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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 equally ostentatious security policy document. This fairly short report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically modest claim that the president has brought back "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the strategy largely formalizes the current actions and rhetoric of Trump and his cabinet, it must be heeded as a grave warning for the international community, and for Europe in particular.

A Strategy of Interference and Civilizational Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference where the US clearly sets the goal of "fostering European strength." Its language could have been lifted straight from addresses by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called migration emergency of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to reclaim its cultural self-confidence." More ominously, the document states that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the real and starker possibility of cultural extinction."

The whole section dedicated to Europe is imbued with generations of European right-wing dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "changing the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free speech and stifling of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity and self-belief." According to the document, if "current trajectories continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and armed forces strong enough to be dependable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become majority non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and proud celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Foundational Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry strong overtones of two theories regarded as core for modern far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose argument on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to criticise 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 conspiracy theory, accusing European elites of using immigration to substitute rebellious "indigenous" populations and bring in a more submissive and reliant electorate.

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

The Objective: "Make Europe Great Again"

In other words, the US contends 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" – understood as the far right – and "strengthening the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays vague on implementation, 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 normalize 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 clearly does not regard Russia as an enemy either.

An Ideological Precedent: 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. Proclaimed 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 vows to "assert and enforce a Trump addition" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help protect US national interests.

None of this is necessarily new – recall 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 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 holds that its national security is best served by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not only an unwilling ally; it is a willing adversary. It is time to respond accordingly.