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On the exact day Donald Trump was presented with a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration released an equally ostentatious national security strategy. This relatively short report is saturated with pure Trump and Trumpism. It begins 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 mostly codifies the ongoing actions and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious caution for the international community, and for the European continent in particular.

A Strategy of Intervention and Cultural Fear

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy interference where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European strength." Its language seems taken directly from addresses by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called migration emergency of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to reclaim its cultural self-confidence." More ominously, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the genuine and more stark prospect of cultural extinction."

The entire section on Europe is steeped in decades of European right-wing ideology and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and causing conflict, suppression of free speech and stifling of dissent, cratering birthrates, and erosion of national identities and self-confidence." According to the document, if "present trends 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 be reliable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become majority non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion authentic democracy, freedom of expression, and proud commemorations of European nations’ unique heritage and past."

Core Ideas of the Far Right

These arguments carry powerful echoes of two theories regarded as foundational for modern right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose argument on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to attack the "perversion" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, alleging European elites of using immigration to replace restive "indigenous" populations and import a more submissive and reliant electorate.

It is the nativist fever dream contained in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is clear where it sees its allies: "The United States urges its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of national spirit, and the increasing influence of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

In other words, the US believes that it is key to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the sole movement that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating 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 "aligned countries that want to reclaim their past glory" – a clear reference to 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 – particularly regarding far-right speech – and not just on 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 regard Russia as an enemy either.

An Ideological Blueprint: 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 1823 policy of 1823. Articulated by President James Monroe, this cautioned European powers not to interfere in the "western hemisphere," which he declared to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document promises to "assert and enforce a Trump addition" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help protect US national interests.

This is entirely new – recall JD Vance’s address at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president unleashed an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But perhaps now that it is laid out in an official 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 demise of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not only an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. Now is time to act accordingly.