Donald Trump ran on the slogan "America First," but more and more it is looking like he's morphing his foreign policy into the second coming of the Monroe Doctrine. The United States meddling in the politics of Central and South America has a long and mostly ugly history, and Trump seems to want to write a few new chapters of that history. This is already causing some blowback among his MAGA supporters, since it runs so counter to what he promised them on the campaign trail.

When Trump first entered office again, he set his sights on Panama. He wanted the canal back, and he wanted China to vamoose from the country. He didn't have any luck on the first of those, but he did pressure China to pull back their footprint in the country.

Now he has set his sights on two countries in South America -- one that he favors and one where he is pushing for regime change. He just bailed out Argentina to the tune of $20 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars, to influence the politics of an upcoming election in the country. And he's walking right up to the brink of declaring war on Venezuela -- although, knowing Trump, this won't involve an actual declaration of war but merely ordering the troops in on whatever pretext he thinks might work best for him.

With Trump, everything is transactional. The leader of Argentina is a strong supporter of Trump and has similar political leanings (especially when it comes to shrinking the role of government). But Javier Milei is facing a midterm election later this month and his party could either pick up seats in the legislature or lose them. Argentina's currency is in crisis (as it often is), so infusing $20 billion in American dollars to prop up the Argentine peso is a lifeline for Milei, right before this election happens.

Trump has specifically said that his largesse is tied to the results of the election. If Milei's party wins, then the money will keep flowing into Argentina. If they lose, then Trump is going to yank the plug entirely. It is a naked attempt to interfere in another country's political system, plain and simple.

Argentina is not a huge player in the world's economy. Their economy is roughly the size of Michigan's. But Milei has been a good buddy to Trump, specifically on his attempts to slash government spending and fire thousands of people. In fact, Milei was the guy who triumphantly handed Elon Musk that chrome-plated chainsaw on stage. If Trump's naked attempt at election interference in Argentina works, then the money will keep flowing to prop up their economy. If not, it will disappear.

This has given rise to some pushback from Republicans and the MAGA base, which breaks down to two factors, really: ideology and practicality. Ideologically, some Republicans have been pointing out that this wasn't exactly what Trump promised. On the practical side, farmers view it all as a complete stab in the back from Trump.

"I am against bailing out any countries," said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). "We have a big debt problem in our country. So if we had an extra $20 billion laying around, we should put it towards our own debt."

Farm state Republicans -- including Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota -- have also raised concerns about the U.S. providing financial aid to a country that immediately turned around and sold its soybean crops to China, undercutting U.S. farmers who are hurting from Trump's tariffs.

"When you're an America First administration, talking America First all the time, and then give $20 billion to Argentina, who then turns around and sells to your market and undercuts it -- the brand gets damaged a little," Cramer told Punchbowl News.

The flip side to Trump's meddling in South American politics is getting more and more concerning by the day. Trump has declared that the leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is nothing short of a narcoterrorist. The United States has offered up a bounty of $50 million for information that leads to Maduro's arrest and conviction on U.S. drug trafficking charges. Trump has labelled the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang a "terrorist organization," and furthermore claimed they are actually waging war on America. The American military has now blown up 27 people on at least five boats off the coast of Venezuela (but in international waters), since Trump claims that we are now at war with the drug traffickers. In war, you don't have to arrest an opponent and give them their day in court, you can just kill them instead. Which is what Trump's been doing, legal or not.

The New York Times broke the story this week that Trump is unleashing the C.I.A. on Venezuela, allowing them to conduct covert action (including lethal operations) on Venezuelan soil. When asked to confirm this, Trump said, "We are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control." This could mean not only C.I.A. action but actual military attacks.

Today it was revealed that the saber-rattling has taken another step as well:

On Wednesday, at least two B-52 bombers from Louisiana flew for several hours off the Venezuelan coast in international air space in what one senior U.S. official on Thursday called "a show of force." The B-52s can carry dozens of precision-guided bombs.

Also in recent days, an elite Army Special Operations aviation unit has been conducting flights in the southern Caribbean Sea near the coast of Venezuela.

These flights have involved Black Hawk helicopters from the Army's 160th Special Operations aviation unit. Meanwhile, a military buildup has been quietly going on which could presage an invasion of Venezuela:

The size and scope of the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean region is significant. There are now about 10,000 U.S. troops, most of them at bases in Puerto Rico, but also some 2,200 Marines on amphibious assault ships. In all, the Navy has eight warships and a submarine in the Caribbean.

Sure sounds like they're getting ready to do something, doesn't it?

So far, few Republicans have pushed back on any of this. But it also cuts across the grain of the whole "America First" slogan, since while campaigning Trump swore up and down he would not get America involved in any new foreign wars during his term. If we actually do launch either a military invasion or try to covertly assassinate Maduro, perhaps more of them might speak out (but even that is doubtful).

Ever since James Monroe laid out his Monroe Doctrine over 200 years ago, America has felt it had a free hand to do pretty much anything it wants in this hemisphere. Initially it was a warning to European colonial powers to stay out of the Americas, but in the 20th century (when American armed forces became dominant world-wide), it has meant that we felt free to intervene in any Central or South American country we wished, in any way that suited us. There is a long and sordid history of the C.I.A. causing regime change in the region (the New York Times ran an article on this, but it should be considered only a partial list of such activities). And we've certainly previously captured the leader of a foreign government, tried him on federal drug charges here in America, and then threw him in jail (see: Manuel Noriega, Panama). The entire 20th century is littered with other examples of our involvement in Western Hemisphere countries and governments.

Trump is now flirting with taking us back to the bad old days where America did whatever we felt like doing in Central and South America. So far, this has been limited to only a few of the countries in the region, but that could always change (depending on how Trump feels about any of them, of course).

We seem to be taking steps that will sooner or later lead to war with Venezuela. We are propping up a foreign country's currency for no other reason than Trump is buddies with its leader. And none of this sounds like "America First" at all.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant