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On the exact date Donald Trump was presented with a tailor-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration released an equally ostentatious security policy document. This fairly brief paper drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It begins with the typically humble claim that the president has rescued "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the strategy mostly formalizes the ongoing actions and statements of Trump and his team, it must be taken as a grave caution for the world, and for the European continent specifically.

A Strategy of Intervention and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its language could have been lifted straight from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence." More ominously, the document states that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the genuine and starker prospect of cultural extinction."

The entire section dedicated to Europe is steeped in decades of European right-wing dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and causing strife, suppression of free speech and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-belief." 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 certain European countries will have economic power and militaries powerful enough to remain 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 stand up for genuine democracy, free speech, and proud commemorations of European nations’ individual character and past."

Core Theories of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful overtones of two theories seen as core for contemporary right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose thesis on the cyclical decline 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," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "native" fears into a more explicit conspiratorial narrative, accusing European elites of using immigration to replace rebellious "indigenous" populations and import a more submissive and dependent electorate.

It is the nativist fantasy contained in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it sees its allies: "America urges its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the increasing influence of nationalist European parties in fact gives cause for great optimism."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

Put simply, the US believes that it is essential to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the only political force that can achieve this. Therefore, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "fostering 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" – 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 pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with the US model – particularly regarding far-right 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 evidently does not treat Russia as an enemy either.

A Historical Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, 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 cautioned 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 promises 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 entirely new – consider JD Vance’s address at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president launched an assault on Europe’s democratic model. But perhaps now that it is laid out in an official document, European leaders will at last understand that the situation is serious. And if the document is too lengthy or vague for them, it can be summarised in clear and succinct terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not just an reluctant ally; it is a deliberate adversary. Now is time to respond accordingly.