America: More Than Just the Continent's Reluctant Partner, But Rather a Foe Rooted in Right-Wing Thought

On the very day Donald Trump received a custom-made "award for peace" from his recent friend, FIFA president "Gianni" Infantino, his government published an similarly flamboyant national security strategy. This fairly brief paper drips with pure Trump and Trumpism. It opens with the typically humble claim that the president has rescued "our nation – and the world – back from the brink of disaster and ruin."

Even though the strategy mostly codifies the current actions and statements of Trump and his cabinet, it must be heeded as a serious caution for the world, and for the European continent in particular.

A Strategy of Interference and Cultural Fear

The document advocates for an aggressive form of foreign-policy meddling where the US explicitly sets the goal of "promoting European greatness." Its rhetoric could have been lifted straight from speeches by Viktor Orbán during the much-discussed migration emergency of 2015-16: "Our desire is for Europe to remain European, to regain its cultural self-assurance." More worryingly, the document states that Europe's "financial downturn is eclipsed by the real and more stark possibility of civilizational erasure."

The whole section on Europe is steeped in decades of European far-right dogma and propaganda. The EU and its migration policies are blamed for "changing the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, plummeting birthrates, and loss of national identities 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 some European countries will have economic power and militaries strong enough to be reliable allies." In fact, the Trump administration asserts that "in a matter of years at the latest, some NATO members will become predominantly non-European."

"U.S. foreign policy should continue to champion genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic commemorations of European nations’ individual character and past."

Foundational Ideas of the Right-Wing

These points carry powerful overtones of two concepts regarded as core for contemporary right-wing circles. The first is Oswald Spengler's "Der Untergang des Abendlandes," whose thesis on the cyclical decline of civilizations was employed by the German far right to criticise the "decadence" and "enfeeblement" of the democratic Weimar Republic. The second is "Le Grand Remplacement," released in 2011 by French novelist Renaud Camus, who translated long-existing "native" fears into a more overt conspiracy theory, accusing 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 encapsulated in both ideas that grants the Trump administration the authority, if not the obligation, to interfere in European affairs, the document implies. And it is clear where it identifies its allies: "America urges its political allies in Europe to advance this resurgence of national spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties in fact gives cause for great optimism."

The Goal: "Restore European Greatness"

Put simply, 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 "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 "nations in agreement that want to restore their former greatness" – such as Hungary and Italy.

While the document remains unclear on methods, it is obvious that a key aim is to pressure Europe to adopt a sweeping policy on freedom of speech, closer to the US model – particularly regarding far-right speech – and not limited to social media. Another is to normalise 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 regard Russia as an adversary either.

An Ideological Precedent: The Monroe Doctrine

In a wider context, 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 cautioned European powers not to interfere in the "western hemisphere," which he declared to be the US’s zone of influence. The Trump administration’s policy document vows to "implement a Trump addition" 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 ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model. But perhaps now that it is laid out in an official document, European leaders will finally understand that the stance is grave. And if the document is too lengthy or vague for them, it can be summarised in clear and concise terms: the current US government believes that its national security is most enhanced 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.