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On the very date Donald Trump was presented with a tailor-made "peace prize" from his recent ally, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his government published an equally ostentatious security policy document. This fairly brief report is saturated with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest assertion that the president has brought back "the United States and the globe – back from the brink of catastrophe and ruin."

Even though the document mostly codifies the ongoing actions and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be taken as a serious caution for the international community, and for the European continent in particular.

A Strategy of Intervention and Cultural Anxiety

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US clearly sets the goal of "promoting European strength." Its language could have been taken directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the so-called migration emergency of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to stay European, to reclaim its cultural self-confidence." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is eclipsed by the genuine and starker possibility of cultural extinction."

The entire section dedicated to Europe is imbued with generations of European right-wing dogma and rhetoric. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "changing the continent and creating strife, censorship of free expression and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-belief." According to the document, if "present trends 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 economic power and militaries powerful enough to be reliable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, some NATO members will become majority non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion genuine democracy, free speech, and unapologetic commemorations of European nations’ unique heritage and history."

Foundational Theories of the Far Right

These points carry powerful overtones of two theories regarded as foundational for modern right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the inevitable fall of civilizations was employed by the German far right to criticise the "perversion" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who transformed long-existing "indigenous" fears into a more explicit conspiratorial narrative, alleging European elites of using immigration to replace restive "indigenous" populations and import a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nationalist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the right, if not the duty, to intervene in European affairs, the document implies. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "America urges its political allies in Europe to advance this revival of national spirit, and the growing clout of nationalist European parties in fact gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Make Europe Great Again"

In other words, the US believes that it is essential 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 "fostering resistance to Europe’s present path within European nations" – understood as the far right – and "strengthening 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 implementation, it is obvious that a key aim 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 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 explicitly called a future ally, the Trump administration evidently does not treat Russia as an adversary either.

A Historical Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, the national security strategy takes its inspiration less from the glorified US of the 1950s and more from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Articulated by President James Monroe, this cautioned European powers not to meddle in the "western hemisphere," which he proclaimed to be the US’s sphere of interest. 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.

None of 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 perhaps now that it is published in an formal document, European leaders will finally understand that the stance is grave. And if the document is too long or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in clear and succinct 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 unwilling ally; it is a willing adversary. Now is time to respond accordingly.