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On the very day Donald Trump received a tailor-made "award for peace" from his recent friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his government released an equally flamboyant security policy document. This fairly brief report drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest assertion that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of disaster and ruin."

Even though the document mostly formalizes the ongoing policies and statements of Trump and his cabinet, it must be taken as a serious warning for the world, and for Europe in particular.

A Strategy of Interference and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy interference where the US clearly sets the goal of "fostering European greatness." Its language could have been lifted directly from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to stay European, to reclaim its civilizational self-assurance." More ominously, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the real and starker possibility of civilizational erasure."

The entire section dedicated to Europe is steeped in generations of European right-wing dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "transforming the continent and causing strife, suppression of free speech and stifling of dissent, plummeting birthrates, and loss of sovereign identity and self-confidence." Per 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 militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

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

Foundational Theories of the Right-Wing

These arguments carry strong echoes of two concepts regarded as core for contemporary far-right circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was employed by the German far right to attack the "perversion" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "The Great Replacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" fears into a more explicit conspiracy theory, alleging European elites of using immigration to substitute rebellious "indigenous" populations and import a more docile and reliant electorate.

It is the nativist fantasy encapsulated in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to intervene in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it sees its allies: "America urges its ideological partners in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing clout of nationalist European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

In other words, the US contends that it is essential to its national security to "Make Europe great again," and that the European far right is the sole political force that can achieve this. Therefore, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "strengthening the robust nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "nations in agreement that want to reclaim their past glory" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains vague on implementation, it is apparent that a key aim is to pressure Europe to adopt a radical policy on freedom of speech, closer to 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 directly called a future ally, the Trump administration evidently does not treat Russia as an adversary either.

A Historical 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 interfere in the "western hemisphere," which he declared to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "assert and enforce a Trump addition" to the Monroe Doctrine, which entails the US "enlisting" 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 launched an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is published in an formal document, European leaders will finally realize that the stance is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or vague for them, it can be condensed in plain and succinct terms: the current US government holds that its national security is best served by the demise of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not only an unwilling ally; it is a deliberate adversary. Now is time to respond accordingly.