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On the very date Donald Trump received a tailor-made "award for peace" from his recent ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his administration published an equally ostentatious national security strategy. This relatively brief report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically modest assertion 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 policies and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be taken as a grave warning for the international community, and for Europe in particular.

A Blueprint of Interference and Cultural Fear

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European strength." Its language seems taken straight from speeches by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the much-discussed refugee crisis of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to reclaim its cultural self-assurance." More ominously, the document states that Europe's "financial downturn is overshadowed by the real and more stark possibility of cultural extinction."

The whole section dedicated to Europe is imbued with generations of European far-right ideology and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and causing conflict, suppression of free expression and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity 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 economic power and militaries powerful enough to remain dependable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, some NATO members will become majority non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic commemorations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Theories of the Far Right

These arguments carry powerful overtones of two theories regarded as core for modern right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose argument on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to criticise the "decadence" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "Le Grand Remplacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "indigenous" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, alleging European elites of using immigration to substitute restive "indigenous" populations and bring in a more submissive and reliant electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream contained 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 identifies its allies: "America encourages its ideological partners in Europe to promote this resurgence of national spirit, and the growing clout of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for great optimism."

The Goal: "Restore European Greatness"

In other words, the US contends that it is key to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the only political force that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "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 "nations in agreement that want to reclaim their past glory" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on methods, it is obvious that a priority is to pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, more aligned with the US model – particularly regarding right-wing speech – and not limited to social media. Another is to normalize relations with Russia; or, as the document phrases it, to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia." Although the country is not directly called a future ally, the Trump administration evidently does not treat Russia as an adversary 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 1823 policy 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 addition" 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 maybe now that it is published in an formal document, European leaders will finally realize that the situation is serious. And if the document is too long or vague 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 destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. To put it bluntly, the US is not just an unwilling ally; it is a willing adversary. Now is time to respond accordingly.