Critics of Donald Trump have long drawn parallels between his domestic policies and the work of Carl Schmitt, the Nazi regime’s “crown jurist”. Now, following the release of the 2025 US National Security Strategy, the raid on Venezuela, and the president’s rhetoric on Greenland, Panama and elsewhere, questions are being asked about whether Trump’s foreign policy also echoes Schmitt’s concept of “great spaces”.
Schmitt, writing in the 1930s, argued that the world should be divided into large spheres of influence, each dominated by a major power. He saw international law as a tool of the victors, designed to keep Germany subjugated. He reserved special scorn for the British, whom he regarded as hypocritical universalists.
In a 1939 lecture, Schmitt proposed that outside powers—what he called “spatially alien powers”—should be forbidden from intervening in each other’s great spaces. He envisaged Nazi Germany as the dominant power in Europe, shielded from Anglo-American interference.
Observers note that Trump’s apparent willingness to tolerate Russian aggression, his threats to allies, and his disdain for international institutions resemble Schmitt’s rejection of universalism. Some also see similarities with the Eurasianist ideas of Alexander Dugin, who has influenced Vladimir Putin and advocates a Russian sphere of influence free from “Anglo-Saxon” meddling.
However, the article cautions that Trump’s actions appear more chaotic than strategic, and his motivation differs from Schmitt’s. While Schmitt sought to legitimise Nazi expansion, Trump’s approach seems driven by transactional instincts rather than a coherent ideology.
