The presidential elections in Honduras are shaping up to be a tightly contested race. In the preliminary count, only a few votes separate the two leading candidates: centrist Salvador Nasralla and right-wing conservative Nasry Asfura.
Reason enough for the U.S. president to once again come to the defense of his preferred candidate, Asfura: “It looks like Honduras is trying to manipulate the presidential election results,” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. He also threatened severe consequences: “If they do, they will pay a steep price.”
Given that Honduras is a small and relatively insignificant country in global politics, why such a fierce reaction from Trump?
Thinking in “Spheres of Interest”
Donald Trump appears to have developed a taste for political spheres of influence, Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook, a transatlantic expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation in Gütersloh, tells DW: “He sees himself almost as an emperor in his role at the White House and enjoys having the world dance to his tune, especially in the Western Hemisphere. It’s important to note that these are his interests, not those of traditional U.S. foreign policy.”
This “spheres of interest” policy is particularly focused on Latin America. “Military actions against Venezuela, intimidation of Colombia’s head of state, the threatening electoral recommendation in Honduras…,” Clüver-Ashbrook lists, also pointing to $20 billion in support for Argentina to help Javier Milei overcome a liquidity crisis. “A new policy is emerging here—one that the U.S. hasn’t pursued so actively toward its Latin American and South American neighbors in a long time.”
Also in Europe
And not just there: In Poland, Trump openly backed the nationalist conservative and Eurosceptic Karol Nawrocki. In Hungary, he supports Viktor Orbán.
In Germany, the U.S. government and the AfD party, partly considered far-right, are currently strengthening their ties. Just days ago, the U.S. instructed its diplomats to promote a more hostile immigration policy in Europe.
Goal: Exporting America’s Culture War
Celia Belin, author of a May 2025 study by the European Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the U.S. president views foreign policy primarily as an international extension of the cultural battles being waged within the United States.
“The left and Democrats are the internal enemy, and Europeans, especially, are seen as their extension abroad,” the study’s author writes. Trump views the EU as a “parasite” that takes advantage of the U.S., just as he accuses American Democrats of weakening the country.
In fact, “the ideologization of U.S. foreign policy is already present in all the foundational documents of Project 2025,” explains Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook. According to these documents, U.S. foreign policy should align much more closely than before with strictly conservative values.
Overt Disdain for Europe
According to Clüver-Ashbrook, Europeans are not only constantly sidelined in negotiations over Ukraine. The disdain some U.S. government factions feel toward liberal-left Europeans has been evident on numerous occasions.
As an example, she cites a leaked conversation reported by the U.S. magazine The Atlantic about a U.S. strike in Yemen. In it, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance allegedly claimed that Europeans disproportionately benefited from the attack, to which War Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly responded: “I fully share your hatred for Europe’s opportunism. It’s pathetic.”
Ideological Battle Through Foreign Policy
The U.S. government is also waging an open ideological battle in Europe over values like migration, climate, “wokeness,” and freedom of speech, Pawel Zerka of the European Council on Foreign Relations tells DW.
At the same time, Trump backs the “new right” whenever possible, normalizing its radical positions. Among the strategies driven by the MAGA ideology are active interference in elections in favor of right-wing and conservative candidates, as well as building a kind of “MAGA International” by creating conservative right-wing networks and promoting right-leaning media, parties, or conferences like CPAC.
Can Europe Defend Itself?
Pawel Zerka emphasizes that instead of seeing itself as dependent on the U.S., Europe must defend its interests jointly and sovereignly, even in the face of pressure from Washington.
For her part, Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook sees another danger for Europe: “Organizations with significant financial power that are also behind the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 are now preparing to exert influence, for example, through donations to political parties.”
The Bertelsmann Foundation political scientist warns that laws on political party donations in Germany and other European countries are too lax and serve as a “gateway for foreign influence, especially through state or state-controlled funds from the United States.”
Image: Opinion
