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On the very date Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his recent friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration published an similarly ostentatious security policy document. This relatively brief report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest assertion that the president has brought back "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the strategy mostly formalizes the current policies and statements of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious caution for the international community, and for Europe in particular.

A Strategy of Interference and Cultural Anxiety

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European strength." Its language could have been taken directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed refugee crisis of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to stay European, to regain its cultural self-confidence." More ominously, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark possibility of cultural extinction."

The whole section on Europe is steeped in decades of European far-right ideology and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free speech and stifling of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-belief." Per the document, if "current trajectories 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."

"American diplomacy should continue to stand up for authentic democracy, free speech, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Theories of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful overtones of two theories seen as foundational for contemporary right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose argument on the inevitable fall 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 transformed long-existing "indigenous" fears into a more overt conspiratorial narrative, alleging European elites of using immigration to replace rebellious "indigenous" populations and bring in a more docile and reliant electorate.

It is the nativist fantasy encapsulated in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it sees its allies: "America urges its political allies in Europe to promote this resurgence of spirit, and the increasing influence of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

The Goal: "Restore European Greatness"

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 achieve this. Therefore, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "strengthening the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "nations in agreement that want to restore their former greatness" – a clear reference to Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on methods, it is apparent that a priority is to pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, closer to 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 clearly does not treat Russia as an adversary either.

A Historical Blueprint: 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 Monroe Doctrine 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 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.

None of this is necessarily 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 perhaps now that it is published in an formal document, European leaders will at last realize that the stance is serious. And if the document is too long or imprecise 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 destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not just an reluctant ally; it is a willing adversary. It is time to respond appropriately.