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On the very day Donald Trump received a tailor-made "peace prize" from his recent ally, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his government released an equally ostentatious security policy document. This fairly brief paper drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically modest claim that the president has brought back "the United States and the globe – back from the edge of disaster and disaster."

Even though the strategy largely formalizes the current policies and statements of Trump and his cabinet, it must be taken as a serious caution for the international community, and for Europe in particular.

A Blueprint of Intervention and Civilizational Anxiety

The document espouses an assertive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US clearly sets the goal of "fostering European strength." Its rhetoric seems taken straight from addresses by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed refugee crisis of 2015-16: "We want Europe to remain European, to reclaim its civilizational self-confidence." More worryingly, the document claims that Europe's "economic decline is eclipsed by the real and starker possibility of civilizational erasure."

The whole section on Europe is imbued with decades of European far-right dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free expression and stifling of dissent, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-belief." According to 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 be reliable allies." Indeed, the Trump administration believes that "within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European."

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

Core Theories of the Right-Wing

These arguments carry powerful overtones of two concepts seen as core for contemporary right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West," whose thesis on the inevitable fall of civilizations was used by the German far right to criticise the "perversion" 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 explicit conspiracy theory, alleging European elites of using immigration to replace rebellious "native" populations and bring in a more docile and dependent electorate.

It is the nativist fever dream encapsulated in both ideas that gives the Trump administration the right, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it identifies its allies: "America encourages its ideological partners in Europe to promote this revival of national spirit, and the increasing influence of nationalist European parties indeed gives cause for significant hope."

The Goal: "Restore European Greatness"

Put simply, the US contends that it is key to its national security to "Restore European strength," and that the European far right is the sole movement that can accomplish this. Consequently, its "broad policy for Europe" prioritises "fostering 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 "aligned countries that want to reclaim their past glory" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document stays vague on implementation, it is obvious that a key aim is to push Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – especially regarding far-right 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 clearly does not treat Russia as an adversary either.

An Ideological Precedent: 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. Articulated by President James Monroe, this cautioned European powers not to interfere in the "Americas," which he declared to be the US’s sphere of interest. The Trump administration’s policy document promises to "implement a Trump corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, which involves the US "enlisting" countries worldwide that wish to help protect US national interests.

This is entirely new – consider JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference, where the vice-president unleashed an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But maybe now that it is published in an official document, European leaders will at last realize that the stance is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or imprecise for them, it can be condensed in plain and concise terms: the current US government holds 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. It is time to act appropriately.