"The central irony of Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy is profound: it condemns the post-Cold War pursuit of “permanent American domination of the entire world” while demanding American supremacy more explicitly than perhaps any strategy document since the early Cold War. The Bush, Clinton, and Obama strategies at least gestured toward multilateralism and partnership, justifying American power through universalist claims about democracy and rules-based order. This strategy dispenses with such pretenses entirely. It represents a move from liberal internationalist domination to nationalist domination.

The document’s lack of international humility is striking. Other nations should “put their interests first,” but only when aligned with American preferences. The strategy proclaims respect for other nations’ “differing cultures and governing systems” while declaring European civilization faces erasure and Latin American countries must restructure their economies to serve American supply chains. There is no acknowledgment that allies might have valid reasons for diversifying partnerships.

Whether this vision is sustainable depends on assumptions the strategy never questions: that allies will increase defence spending without seeking corresponding influence."