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On the exact day Donald Trump was presented with a tailor-made "award for peace" from his newest friend, FIFA president "Johnny" Infantino, his government released an similarly ostentatious security policy document. This fairly short report is saturated with the essence of Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the characteristically modest assertion that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of disaster and disaster."

Even though the document mostly formalizes the ongoing actions and rhetoric of Trump and his team, it must be heeded as a serious caution for the world, and for the European continent specifically.

A Strategy of Intervention and Civilizational Fear

The document espouses an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference where the US explicitly sets the goal of "fostering European greatness." Its language could have been lifted directly from addresses by the Hungarian Prime Minister during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to stay European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "financial downturn is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of cultural extinction."

The entire section on Europe is imbued with generations of European right-wing dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are held responsible for "changing the continent and creating strife, suppression of free speech and suppression of dissent, cratering birthrates, and erosion of sovereign identity 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 be reliable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration asserts that "within a few decades at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"American diplomacy should continue to champion authentic democracy, free speech, and proud commemorations of European nations’ individual character and history."

Core Theories of the Far Right

These arguments carry powerful overtones of two concepts 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 attack the "perversion" and "weakness" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "Le Grand Remplacement," published in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" 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 contained in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the duty, to intervene in European affairs, the document suggests. And it is evident where it identifies its allies: "The United States encourages its ideological partners in Europe to advance this revival of national spirit, and the increasing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism."

The Objective: "Restore European Greatness"

In other words, the US contends that it is essential to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the sole movement that can achieve this. Consequently, its "overarching strategy for Europe" focuses on "cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" – meaning the far right – and "building up the healthy nations of central, eastern, and southern Europe" – specifically "nations in agreement that want to reclaim their former greatness" – a clear reference to 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, more aligned with the US model – especially regarding far-right speech – and not limited to 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 clearly does not treat Russia as an enemy either.

An Ideological Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, the national security strategy takes its inspiration less from the idealized US of the 1950s and more from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Proclaimed by President James Monroe, this warned European powers not to meddle in the "Americas," which he proclaimed to be the US’s zone of influence. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "implement a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "enlisting" 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 official document, European leaders will at last realize that the situation is serious. And if the document is too long or vague for them, it can be summarised in clear and concise terms: the current US government believes that its national security is best served by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not just an unwilling ally; it is a willing adversary. Now is time to act appropriately.