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On the very day Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his government released an similarly flamboyant security policy document. This fairly brief report is saturated with pure Trump and Trumpism. It begins with the typically humble claim that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the edge of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the strategy largely codifies the ongoing actions and statements of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious caution for the world, and for the European continent specifically.

A Blueprint of Interference and Civilizational Fear

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its rhetoric seems taken directly from addresses by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to reclaim its cultural self-assurance." Even more ominously, the document states that Europe's "financial downturn is eclipsed by the genuine and starker prospect of cultural extinction."

The whole section on Europe is imbued with decades of European right-wing ideology and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "changing the continent and causing conflict, suppression of free speech and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities 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 economies and militaries powerful enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Ideas of the Far Right

These points carry strong echoes of two theories regarded as foundational for modern far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was employed by the German far right to criticise the "decadence" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiratorial narrative, alleging European elites of using immigration to substitute restive "native" populations and import a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fantasy contained in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the right, if not the duty, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it identifies its allies: "America urges its ideological partners in Europe to advance this revival of national spirit, and the growing clout of nationalist European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

Put simply, the US believes that it is key to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the only movement that can achieve this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "cultivating opposition to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "strengthening the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "aligned countries that want to reclaim their past glory" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays vague on methods, it is obvious that a priority is to push Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with the US model – especially regarding far-right speech – and not just on social media. Another is to normalize relations with Russia; or, as the document phrases 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.

An Ideological Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a broader sense, 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 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 "implement a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

This is entirely new – recall JD Vance’s address 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 situation is grave. And if the document is too long or vague for them, it can be condensed in plain and concise terms: the current US government holds that its national security is best served by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not only an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. Now is time to act appropriately.