White ethno-nationalism has emerged as one of the most dangerous political forces of the 21st century.

While Black and brown communities are its most immediate targets, its deeper and more enduring threat is its systematic assault on liberal democracy and universal human rights. By defining belonging narrowly, elevating one group above all others, and treating pluralism as decay, white ethno-nationalism ultimately imperils everyone—especially liberal white Europeans and Americans whose freedoms depend on democratic norms and institutions.

This danger is no longer abstract. The Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy (NSS) framed a growing “threat to civilization,” rooted in part in global migration from Black and brown countries to Europe and the United States. Presented as a matter of national security, this language closely mirrors the core narrative of white ethno-nationalism: that demographic change equals civilizational collapse, and that diversity itself represents an existential danger. Migration—an ordinary and recurring feature of human history—is recast as invasion.

This framing is not incidental. It signals an ideological shift in which national identity is defined in ethnic and cultural terms rather than civic ones. Within this framework, pluralism is treated not as a democratic strength but as a liability, and human equality is subordinated to an exclusionary vision of the nation.

It is in this context that figures such as JD Vance have emerged as leading voices within the National Conservative movement. Vance’s rhetoric—echoing themes embedded in the NSS—casts immigration as a civilizational threat and portrays diversity as destabilizing rather than democratic. His arguments closely align with those advanced by far-right movements across Europe, underscoring that white ethno-nationalism now operates as a coordinated transatlantic ideology rather than an isolated domestic phenomenon.

The consequences of this worldview are already visible. Across Europe and the United States, exclusionary movements increasingly share language and strategy. Deportation is rebranded as “remigration.” Citizenship is narrowed. Minority rights are dismissed as special privileges. Independent courts, universities, and the press are portrayed not as pillars of democracy but as enemies of the nation. Black and brown communities experience these pressures first, but they are never the final targets.

Defending democratic institutions is essential—but it is not sufficient. Citizens must also reject the core tenets of white ethno-nationalism itself: belief in white supremacy, denial of universal human rights, and the notion that some people are inherently less deserving of dignity, protection, or belonging. Democracy cannot survive if equality is conditional or if national identity is racialized.

Historically, Black and brown communities have served as the early warning system for democratic decline. They endure the first restrictions, the first exclusions, and the first erasures. But once pluralism itself is framed as a threat, no group remains secure. Liberal democracy, by definition, cannot coexist with ethno-nationalist hierarchy.

The response must therefore be both national and global. Governments and citizens—especially in Europe and the United States—must recognize that resisting authoritarianism requires more than procedural democracy or periodic elections. It requires a moral commitment to human equality and an unapologetic defense of pluralism.

The language of the National Security Strategy reveals how easily the rhetoric of security can be turned against democracy itself. When diversity is cast as danger, and equality as weakness, democratic collapse becomes not a surprise but a foreseeable outcome.

White ethno-nationalism threatens Black and brown people first—but it destroys democracy for everyone. Rejecting it is not optional. It is the price of preserving a free society.