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On the exact date Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his administration published an similarly flamboyant security policy document. This fairly short paper drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens 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 largely formalizes the ongoing policies and statements of Trump and his team, it must be taken as a serious warning for the international community, and for Europe in particular.

A Blueprint of Intervention and Cultural Fear

The document espouses an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference where the US clearly sets the goal of "promoting European strength." Its rhetoric could have been taken directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence." More worryingly, 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 dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free expression 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 unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is not at all clear whether certain European countries will have economies 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, freedom of expression, and proud commemorations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Foundational Theories of the Right-Wing

These arguments carry powerful echoes of two concepts regarded as core for contemporary far-right 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 "decadence" 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 "native" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, alleging European elites of using immigration to substitute restive "indigenous" populations and bring in a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the duty, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is evident where it sees its allies: "The United States encourages its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of national spirit, and the growing influence of nationalist European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Make Europe Great Again"

Put simply, the US believes that it is key to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the sole political force that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "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 former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays unclear 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 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 enemy either.

An Ideological Blueprint: 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 Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Articulated by President James Monroe, this warned European powers not to meddle in the "western hemisphere," which he proclaimed to be the US’s zone of influence. 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.

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 at last realize that the situation is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in plain and succinct terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not only an unwilling ally; it is a deliberate adversary. It is time to respond accordingly.