Europe faces a pincer attack from White House ideologues backed by Silicon Valley and its far-right proxies | Armida va Rij

The US is advancing a new global order. Over the past eight decades Washington pursued – when it suited American interests – an order based on international law, liberalism, multilateralism and democratic values. The new one is based on autocracy and the use of force, and is underpinned by xenophobic nationalism.

For the transatlantic relationship this is transformative: it means that coercive action now drives policy change. Europe’s security dependency on the US is leverage to be ruthlessly exploited. Silicon Valley tech firms’ business interests converge with those of the White House, and the US instrumentalises far-right politicians in Europe to achieve its foreign policy objectives.

By backing the re-election of Donald Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, radical libertarians have ensured that some of their beliefs are driving the ideological turn that is shaping Trump’s second term and the new global order. Ideas popular among radical, libertarian Silicon Valley executives, such as pro-natalism, support for eugenics and even the replacement of democracy by CEO-led “monarchy”, are fusing with Maga nativism.

As I predicted in June, the convergence of these forces means this administration will seek to bring about a transatlantic cultural revolution based on nativist values, welcomed by some members of the European far right, with a secondary objective of fragmenting and destroying the EU institutions.

While far-right parties on both sides of the Atlantic have long subscribed to nativist ideas, the US government is today actively seeking to export this ideology to Europe as part of its new imagined order.

The US national security strategy (NSS) published by the White House last November is the clearest articulation to date of this objective. It provides a framework for political and ideological interventionism in Europe, drawing on the thinking of Vance and his radical libertarian backers.

The illegal capture of Venezuela’s president shows the lengths the US is willing to go to secure its “interests” and enact the NSS in pursuing this new order. ..

In the case of Europe, the strategy in practice means that US state department funding for US embassies and other activities can be geared specifically towards promoting far-right parties. This may begin with those in the four countries – Austria, Hungary, Italy and Poland – that an unofficial, leaked version of the strategy document identified as good candidates to be “pulled away” from the EU.

Private funding, including from endowed rightwing thinktanks, could also be funnelled to so-called government-organised NGOs – many of which have been established by Viktor Orbán’s regime in Hungary to advance nativist objectives. The US thinktank the Heritage Foundation, architect of Project 2025, a far-right agenda for the Trump presidency, is reported to be actively seeking ties with European thinktanks.

At the same time, US tech billionaires have long bankrolled initiatives to advance nativist ideas in Europe, and weaken and divide the EU. More recently, Elon Musk has used his social media platform, X, to openly support the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany.

The result is a toxic mix in which US tech companies’ desire to push the EU to deregulate its social media platforms combines with the White House’s nativist turn. The algorithms of platforms such as X and Meta-owned Instagram thrive on extreme views, including those often put forward by the far right. Attacks on the EU are intended to weaken its resolve to regulate the US tech giants’ businesses. The recent US sanctioning of European civil society leaders exemplifies the convergence between Silicon Valley’s interests and the White House. It is intended to have a chilling effect on pro-democracy organisations working to counter online disinformation.

As the US turns to singlehandedly changing the world order , the norms and laws European democracies stand for – democracy, human rights, the rule of law – which are already strained after years of far-right influence, are coming under further pressure.

European democracies are facing a pincer attack: externally taking fire from the US administration and Silicon Valley companies, internally from the European far right – with an overlay of crippling dependency on the US for security.

The White House does not even need to use this lever, as European leaders already self-censor out of fear of compromising their own or Ukraine’s security. For as long as Europe is limited by the military capabilities it can deploy independently of the US, security dependence will cloud any course of action or response to US policy that European leaders can consider. The operation in Venezuela escalates the seriousness of the Trump administration’s threats to annex Greenland, demonstrating the very real risks to sovereignty and security beyond ideology.

Navigating Europe’s role in an order that advances ideas counter to its raison d’être will be complex. Insulating the continent from nativist ideology is impossible, and building up strategic autonomy will take time Europe does not have. As the US administration merges threats to sovereignty with the promotion of far-right forces that are a threat to democracy, and pushes tech deregulation, Europe is left with few tools in its arsenal to address this multidimensional challenge.

What it needs are genuine allies who can help counter the alternative order the US is putting on the table. They can be found in Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and other remaining liberal democracies. South Korea’s defence industrial base supports European rearmament efforts. Australia holds deposits of critical minerals essential for defence supply chains.

Europe cannot stand up to the US alone; its only option is to urgently deepen and strengthen partnerships with countries who share its values and interests in a rules-based order, to build a viable political and military bulwark against the US’s new order.