Senator Bernie Moreno, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, has risen to become an influential figure in Donald Trump’s political orbit in just his first year in office. Notwithstanding his own background — born in Colombia, a country now under direct threat from Trump’s Republican Party — Moreno has used his influence to successfully push for the US military escalation in the hemisphere. Not bad for a Greater Cleveland car salesman.

As a senator for Ohio, his influence on US foreign policy has played a strong role in the rapid deterioration of relations between the United States and its neighbors to the south, particularly Colombia’s progressive government. Moreover, much like the Trump administration’s militarist foreign policy — which (very thinly) cloaks its ulterior motives behind the rhetoric of combating drug trafficking — Moreno’s hawkish push for an aggressive posture toward Colombia and Venezuela exposes both veiled personalist interests and broad class ones.

Moreno, despite his foreign birth, is hardly an outsider to Washington. A more accurate version of his life story — in contrast to the immigrant tale featured in his colossally expensive campaign — offers a revealing glimpse into how elite networks across the Americas intertwine to thwart efforts near and far to implement majority rule.