the play would be increasing US authority in South America either preemptively or as a direct response to eastern influences like Russia and China.

Maybe, if there was a smart big thought in that brain. This will be simpler, as they will just build a building or two, a tower and hotel or something with his name on it. In exchange for $40 bil of other people’s money. He doesn’t care about strategy or geopolitics, this guy is 100% about the corruption and the personal benefit, the quid pro quo, he’s the mob president.