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On the exact day Donald Trump was presented with a tailor-made "award for peace" from his recent ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration published an equally flamboyant security policy document. This fairly short paper is saturated with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically humble assertion that the president has rescued "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of disaster and disaster."

Even though the strategy largely formalizes the current policies and statements of Trump and his team, it must be taken as a grave caution for the international community, and for the European continent specifically.

A Strategy of Intervention and Cultural Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference where the US clearly sets the goal of "fostering European strength." Its rhetoric could have been taken straight from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to regain its cultural self-confidence." Even more worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is overshadowed by the genuine and starker prospect of civilizational erasure."

The whole section on Europe is steeped in decades of European right-wing dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "transforming the continent and creating strife, suppression of free expression and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-belief." According to the document, if "current trajectories continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less. As such, it is not at all clear whether certain European countries will have economies and armed forces powerful enough to remain dependable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion authentic democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Theories of the Far Right

These arguments carry strong overtones of two theories regarded as core for modern right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was used by the German far right to criticise the "perversion" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "Le Grand Remplacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "indigenous" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, accusing European elites of using immigration to substitute restive "indigenous" populations and import a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nativist fever dream contained in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "The United States encourages its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of national spirit, and the increasing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism."

The Objective: "Make Europe Great Again"

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 only movement that can accomplish this. Therefore, its "broad policy for Europe" focuses on "fostering resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "building up the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – in particular "aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on methods, it is obvious that a key aim 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 normalize relations with Russia; or, as the document calls it, to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not explicitly called a future ally, the Trump administration clearly does not treat Russia as an enemy either.

An Ideological 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 1823 policy 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 zone of influence. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "assert and enforce a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "recruiting" countries worldwide that wish to help safeguard US national interests.

This is necessarily 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 laid out in an formal document, European leaders will at last realize that the stance is grave. And if the document is too long or imprecise for them, it can be summarised in plain and concise terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not just an reluctant ally; it is a willing adversary. It is time to act appropriately.