Trump’s National Security Strategy Is as Extreme as We Said It Would Be
The official document rails against “destabilizing population flows” and “civilizational erasure” in Europe – as Zeteo reported it would.
Donald Trump’s official National Security Strategy document pledges to control migration and limit “destabilizing population flows,” rails against “civilizational erasure” in Europe, and celebrates “the growing influence of patriotic European parties.”
On Thursday night, the Trump administration released the public-facing version of this long-awaited NSS document, designed to spell out the president’s vision for the world and the USA’s place in it – and the pages closely match Zeteo’s previous reporting about what the National Security Strategy would ultimately look like: one of White House adviser Stephen Miller’s furthest-right fantasies.
Weeks ago, Zeteo revealed that the draft of Trump’s then-hidden NSS leaned heavily on anti-migrant, culture-war hysteria and displayed a fixation on forging alliances with far-right European political parties. The draft papers – for what was ostensibly a national-security document – obsessed over the idea of so-called traditional families, and over the supposed “erasure” of Western European “culture.” Unsurprisingly, as Zeteo reported last month, the draft NSS was essentially ghost-written in part by Miller, Trump’s top policy architect.
But some government officials who had seen the pages told us they were stunned by the substance and tone of the document, with one federal staffer saying last month that it reminded them of “fascist internet trolls getting worked up about something they saw on Twitter.” The public document delivers on that description, and then some. The Trump NSS document yearns for the “restoration and reinvigoration of American spiritual and cultural health,” an “America that cherishes its past glories and its heroes,” and “growing numbers of strong, traditional families that raise healthy children.”
As Zeteo previously reported, Trump administration officials discussed issuing a public-facing version of the NSS that would be less outwardly extreme than the classified version of the document. The public, unclassified version has now been released; it is unclear whether there’s a classified version that looks radically different from the already extremely MAGAfied public document.
Closing Borders
What does restoring America’s “spiritual and cultural health” look like? It starts with immigration.
“In countries throughout the world, mass migration has strained domestic resources, increased violence and other crime, weakened social cohesion, distorted labor markets, and undermined national security,” the document laments. “The era of mass migration must end.”
While the document purports to lay out US foreign policy that’s “restrained” (though not “dovish”), it calls for “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat cartels, including where necessary the use of lethal force to replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades.” It demands a “more suitable Coast Guard and Navy presence to control sea lanes, to thwart illegal and other unwanted migration, to reduce human and drug trafficking, and to control key transit routes in a crisis.”
Of course, much of these ambitions are already being seen in the Trump administration’s illegal strikes targeting supposed drug smugglers in the Caribbean and Pacific, actions overseen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as Trump’s built-up naval presence in these areas.
The document broadens the issue of migration to Europe, which it hysterically claims is facing the “stark prospect of civilizational erasure,” echoing a far-right conspiracy theory. It writes of “migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife” and “cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.” Consequently, the Trump administration says it seeks to restore “Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
“Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European,” the document warns.
“We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence,” the document asserts, arguing that US diplomacy should continue to stand up for “unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history.”
The document adds, “America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.”
Indeed, while condemning foreign influence on the US, the document repeatedly suggests supporting specific political parties in other countries, if they serve US interests.
Such hypocrisy and inconsistency plague the document.
Free Speech (Conditions and Exclusions Apply)
The Trump administration intends to “unapologetically protect our own sovereignty,” according to the NSS.
This, the document says, involves preventing “attempts by foreign powers or entities to censor our discourse or curtail our citizens’ free speech rights” and combating “lobbying and influence operations that seek to steer our policies or involve us in foreign conflicts.”
In reality, the Trump administration has led a sweeping, unprecedented assault on speech rights in the US, starting with his crusade to stamp out diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the government and the private sector.
Then there’s the fact his administration – with the apparent assistance of groups designed to support a foreign country – has repeatedly arrested foreign students solely on the basis of their speech. Such actions were meant to silence opposition to US involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Elsewhere, the document says the administration is opposed to “elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world, especially among our allies.” Relatedly, top Trump officials have publicly opposed efforts in Germany to ban the far-right political party Alternative for Germany, or AfD.
But the document seems to hint at clear exceptions. “Middle East partners are demonstrating their commitment to combatting radicalism, a trendline American policy should continue to encourage,” the NSS states. But it says that “doing so will require dropping America’s misguided experiment with hectoring these nations – especially the Gulf monarchies – into abandoning their traditions and historic forms of government.”
“We should encourage and applaud reform when and where it emerges organically, without trying to impose it from without,” the document adds.
The NSS perfectly encapsulates Trump’s hypocritical, ultra-conditional approach to speech. His administration – which has cracked down on speech at the behest of a foreign country that’s terrorized the Middle East and killed Americans – purports to sacralize freedom of speech in the US and abroad, except with regards to certain Middle Eastern countries, namely Gulf monarchies, like Saudi Arabia, which killed a Washington Post columnist just years ago.
Perhaps that should not be a surprise. After the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered – reportedly at the direction of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump initially claimed he was “extremely angry and very unhappy” about it. But in his recent meeting with MBS at the White House, the president said instead: “things happen.”
‘Culture of Competence’
Along with the hypocrisy, the document contains outright fictions. It echoes Trump’s puzzling claim that he “negotiated peace between Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the DRC and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, and ended the war in Gaza with all living hostages returned to their families.”
The idea that Trump has ended eight wars, as the document claims, is simply untrue. Some of these conflicts remain ongoing; some of these countries were not at war.
And the president’s involvement in some of the peace agreements could better be described as a participation trophy – much like the “peace prize” that FIFA President Gianni Infantino bestowed on Trump on Friday.
To that end, the document also calls to re-instill “a culture of competence, rooting out so-called ‘DEI’ and other discriminatory and anti-competitive practices that degrade our institutions and hold us back.”
With the likes of Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller at the helm of US foreign policy, there’s no doubt: meritocracy is dead.
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As a European I'd rather Trump and his ilk refrain from thinking about what Europe should or shouldn't do. We are happily thinking by ourselves, thank you. And stop interfering. And don't visit.
I’m just shocked it took this long for them to admit it.
So the Trump Doctrine in a nutshell is to exploit our allies, for cash; making our democratic values (if we still have any); fully transactional, not based on shared values of freedom and liberty.
Additionally, the US will align ourselves with violent autocrats to further our economic interests; or in Trump’s case, his own, and that of his coterie of nefarious actors.
Not to mention, they will support fascist, anti-immigrant, right-wing parties across Europe; essentially supporting the same fascist parties that Putin currently supports.
Additionally, we will also execute Trump’s version of the Monroe Doctrine; on steroids. And exert undue influence over the entire region; from Canada, to Greenland, to Venezuela, Mexico and Chile. The whole enchilada!
Lastly, we will allow China to insert its influence throughout Asia, will little guarantee that we will aid our Asian allies against any Chinese future aggression, essentially ceding the world’s largest emerging economies to our fiercest adversary: China! I’m sure that’s going over well with S. Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
This all sounds like a solid plan for America First, and America alone. Except, it assumes that the rest of the world will fall in line; they won’t and they aren’t.
Ukraine and Europe are already taking steps to decouple themselves from us militarily; while they and Canada buy and develop their own organic Military Industrial Complex. And they’re about to unfreeze $200 billion in frozen Russian assets from Belgium to rebuild Ukraine and supply them with weapons.
Moreover, it will mean fewer weapons sales from our Military Industrial Complex; which it’s already eating into their bottom line, which means fewer jobs. Canada just purchased 77 Saab JAS 39 Griper fighter jets; cancelling a contract with Lockheed Martin for F-35’s.
Furthermore, Trump also recognized in the National Security Strategy that European trade is vital to the US; yet, they hate the rule based order and trade guardrails; hence, their determination to blame everything on immigrants and free speech. However, he can’t allow for an invasion without detrimentally destroying our economy in the process. Our GDP is only slightly larger than the EU in terms of Purchasing Power Parity!
Therefore, Trump understands that he can’t allow Russia to invade; he can just work with them to destroy them economically through tariffs, misinformation and disinformation campaigns; as well as trying to get right-wing parties elected.
Bottom line, the World is on to them; and the world won’t go gently into that goodnight! IMHO…:)