The Trump/Harris Debate
From the moment she stepped on stage at the presidential debate held at Constitution Hall in Philadelphia, PA on September 10, 2024, Kamala Harris dominated, striding purposefully across the platform to force Donald Trump to shake hands with her as an equal. Trump had been evading that moment (as indeed, he avoided even glancing her way throughout most of the debate), but she walked directly into his space and demanded compliance with the time-honored norm.
From that point on, Trump was a spent force, appearing tired, worn, and old, with answers that were often incoherent and rarely addressed the question. Trump chose instead to focus on his typical litany of grievance, baseless accusation, and the firehose of falsehoods he spews whenever he opens his mouth.
The ABC moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, did a fine job, disarming Trump’s lies on three occasions with gentle corrections about the facts involved, then quickly moving on; and giving him his head when he insisted on claiming extra time, regularly unmuting his mic to accommodate more crazy talk, despite the debate rules. Among other things, Trump again refused to acknowledge his 2020 defeat, or accept any responsibility for the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol; he alleged that full-term babies were being “executed” by post-delivery abortions; that Joe Biden “hates” Harris for supplanting him on the Democratic ticket; and that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were abducting domestic cats and eating them.
As character witness, Trump called Viktor Orban, the autocrat who is reducing Hungarian democracy to rubble, whom he said was a big fan of his. He also refused to state whether he would veto a national abortion ban; refused to affirm the wish that Ukraine will emerge victorious from Russian aggression; and opined that if Harris were elected, Israel would cease to exist. When pressed for an alternate health care plan to replace Obamacare, something he has been promising would be forthcoming for nine years, Trump pled that he couldn’t do so before becoming President again, but that he had “concepts” of what that would be like.
Kamala Harris, in contrast, stayed on message, managed to promote her policy proposals to improve middle class families’ lives, and needled Trump continually on his “hot button” topics like crowd size, John McCain, and the negative opinions of him from world leaders, military personnel, and former staffers, to all of which he consistently rose to the bait, becoming visibly rattled and increasingly incoherent. Visually, the two could not have formed a greater contrast – Trump scowling and angry throughout; Harris smiling, often looking quizzically or mockingly at her opponent’s utterances, even managing an expression of sympathetic pity at his most unhinged statements.
Polling immediately after the debate showed roughly two-thirds of viewers thought Harris had won, compared to a third which gave the edge to Trump. Crucially, 98% of undecided voters who were polled gave the win to Harris.
The outcome of this debate was made very clear in advance by celestial placements that gave Harris a leg up on victory. To begin with, the event was well-timed, with Mercury, the planet ruling debates, at 2 Virgo, conjunct asteroid Whitehouse 4036 at 8 Virgo, naturally making the presidency (Whitehouse) the focus of the discussion (Mercury). Also here, asteroid Grieve 4451 at 7 Virgo, with grievance being one of Trump’s major themes for the night. An opposition to asteroid Demosthenes 100133 at 5 Pisces, conjunct Damocles 5335 at 0 Pisces, showed the importance of clear, powerful oratory (Demosthenes) to the debate (Mercury) and the looming peril (Damocles) for any candidate who fell short of the mark.
With asteroid Harris 2929 at 2 Gemini, exactly squared Mercury, she had the upper hand; bolstered by asteroid TRIUMF 14959 (phonetic match for “triumph”) conjoined from 10 Gemini, the night was an unqualified success for Harris, even acknowledged as such by Fox News commentators Chris Wallace and Brit Hume.
Harris’ first name PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) added to her success, with asteroid Camilla 107 at 25 Aries conjunct the 3 Taurus Ascendant and squared empowering Pluto at 29 Capricorn; asteroid Camillo 3752 at 19 Leo conjunct asteroid Nike 307 (named for the Greek goddess of victory) at 11 Leo; asteroid Kamil 14124 at 26 Virgo conjoined the 18 Virgo Sun, squared Jupiter (the Greater Benefic, bringing luck and positive outcomes) at 20 Gemini, and semisquare asteroid Victoria 12 at 8 Scorpio (named for the Roman goddess of victory); and asteroid Camelia 957 at 23 Scorpio opposing asteroid Washingtonia 886 and energizing Uranus, at 21 and 27 Taurus respectively.
With asteroid America 916 exactly conjunct Pluto, arbiter of change and transformation, and at station, the nation is at a pivotal turning point, a crossroads in its destiny, ripe for renewal. An opposition to asteroid Karma 3811 at 22 Cancer indicates being called to account for prior acts, a fated moment which determines the way forward. The square from Camilla suggests that Americans may be ready to listen to Harris’s repeated entreaties that it was time to “turn the page” on the politics of division and move forward together. Harris’ message to her countrymen: “We won’t go back” (asteroid America turned direct the day before the debate).
The contest with Trump was depicted by asteroid Camillo at 19 Leo closely opposed asteroid Donn 4689 (for The Donald) at 20 Aquarius, backed up by a square to asteroid Camelia at 23 Scorpio, in a Grand Cross with Uranus at 27 Taurus. Americans are ready for something fresh, exciting and new (all Uranus), as embodied by Harris (Camillo, Camelia), instead of the constant controversy, volatility and shock tactics (also Uranus) employed by Trump (Donn).
Trump’s trademark bullying style was not much in evidence, with the GOP nominee seeming tired and lackluster, unable to muster the energy to blast this opponent as he had done to so many others. We might attribute this to asteroid Troemper 28130 (our celestial referent for the former president) at 16 Cancer, in square to a pairing of asteroids Toro 1685 and NOT 2857, at 22 and 27 Libra. Toro represents bullying, brutish behaviors, but NOT is a general disqualifier or symbol of negation; Trump’s superpower of denigration and intimidation (Toro, a point which appears at station in his nativity, making this a central; theme of his personality) was diminished (NOT).
Ultimately, Donald Trump’s performance was self-defeating, prompted by asteroid Troemper exactly conjoined natal asteroid Nemesis 128 and exactly sextile transit asteroid Nemesis at 16 Virgo, conjoined the 18 Virgo Sun. Nemesis represents ruin, destruction and undoing, often self-created; Troemper igniting both his natal predisposition to undermine himself and the real-time opportunity to do so, proved fatal to Trump’s chances of appearing anywhere close to normal. The Sun conjunct Nemesis puts his self-sabotage on full display for all to see; asteroid Lie 26955 also here at 21 Virgo establishes Trump’s most vulnerable point, his endless falsehoods. Trump disastrously boasted of the overturning of Roe v Wade, for which he takes full credit, and repeated the idiotic claim that “everyone” had been begging for that to be done for years, to return reproductive freedom rights to the states.
Among the other egregious false claims Trump uttered: that global crime rates are plummeting, while US crime rates have spiked, because all countries are sending their criminals to the US (violent crime is actually down 26% since the end of the Trump administration); that illegal immigrants are committing most of the crimes in the US (statistically, undocumented immigrants have the lowest percentage of lawbreaking, far below that of native-born Americans); and that he negotiated the terms of the Afghanistan ceasefire with “Abdul,” head of the Taliban (no such person exists).
Although not at all atypical of Trump’s everyday truth-challenged performance, what I find fascinating about this extreme level of lying is the movement of the Ascendant during the debate. The Ascendant, the degree of the zodiac rising on the eastern horizon at any given moment, sweeps through the entire zodiac daily, spending roughly four minutes at each of the 360 degrees. So every day, there is a period for each of us when every single natal celestial placement becomes temporarily highlighted by the transiting Ascendant’s spotlight.
The debate began with a 3 Taurus Ascendant, with Trump’s natal asteroid Lie just down the celestial pike at 17 Taurus. Allowing for a ten-degree orb to either side, the Ascendant was conjoining Lie, highlighting Donald Trump’s inborn tendency to exaggerate, misdirect or outright deceive, for eighty minutes of the 90-minute debate, from approximately 9:15 to 10:35 PM. The onset equates to the period when Kamala Harris barbed Trump about the size of crowds at his rallies, which is the point when he began to go off the rails, right through his closing statement. It’s as if the cosmos has a vested interest in exposing Trump’s mendacity and fabulism.
Without doubt, the most bizarre contribution Trump made to the evening was his claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio have been abducting cats and dogs, and eating them. For a former President and current Republican nominee to stand on a stage and utter such ridiculous accusations in front of 67 million viewers is something that would have been inconceivable at any time before Donald Trump invaded our politics, yet it is now accepted as a matter of course that he will make these unhinged statements.
Trump was, however, challenged on this by ABC anchor Davd Muir, one of just three occasions when moderators fact-checked him. Muir interjected after Trumps’ rant that they had reached out to Springfield’s city manager, who said no complaints of stolen pets had been made, much less that they had been consumed. To which Trump replied that he had seen it on television.
Even here, the cosmos provides validation for the details of Trump’s apparent Cat Snack Fever, and the likely effect it made on his candidacy. Asteroid Troemper is conjoined not only by Nemesis, but also asteroids Karma at 22 Cancer, Losse 340579 at 23 Cancer, and Katz 22981 (German for “cat,” a phonetic match) and Kitty 9563, at 21 and 26 Cancer respectively. This speaks to a fated (Karma) loss (Losse) based in part on self-defeating (Nemesis) statements about cats (Katz, Kitty). As well, asteroids Fellini 5150 (for “feline”) at 10 Virgo and Dogen 11064 (for “dog”) at 13 Virgo conjoin transit Nemesis at 16 Virgo, which is squared by asteroid Doga 10504 (also for “dog”) at 18 Gemini, underscoring Trump’s self-created ruin from household pets.
It is perhaps appropriate that David Muir called out Trump on two of the three fact-check moments, with asteroid Davida 511 (the feminine equivalent of David) at 15 Taurus conjoined Trump’s 17 Taurus asteroid Lie, and asteroid Muirhead 7818 (closest to Muir) at 20 Libra, in square to Troemper.
On some level, Trump must have understood the magnitude of his defeat, because within minutes of the debate’s end, he appeared in the spin room, where supporters of the rival nominees attempt to massage public opinion of the outcome in their candidate’s favor. It is unusual for the candidate him- or herself to appear in person, and certainly not if s/he was judged the victor. Trump stated his contention that he had won, in “the best debate of my life,” then proceeded to cite nonextant polls which “confirmed” that he had outperformed Harris, later opining to Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he had defeated her by margins as high as 86%-3%. What can be said of such a tenuous grasp on reality?
Shortly after the debacle, Taylor Swift, the most popular musical artist on the planet, endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Asteroid Taylor 2603 at 17 Libra was closely squared asteroid Troemper at 16 Cancer, while asteroid Swift 5035 at 15 Aquarius conjoined asteroid Donn at 20 Aquarius. Within 24 hours, more than a third of a million people had clicked on her link to register to vote. In a race that could be decided by tens of thousands of votes in swing states, this alone could decide the outcome. Face it, Donnie – when you’ve got the Swifties against you, you’ve already lost.
3 comments, add yours.
Michelle Hardenbrook
Another great article. I was waiting with anxious anticipation to your analysis of the debate. Kamala dragged that “cat” throughout the debate and it was a glorious sight to behold.
Laurien
Harris’s performance at the debate was priceless! So is your coverage of it! The Universe does seem to be rooting for Harris. Here’s hoping Americans vote for sanity when they go to the polls. Thanks Alex!
Charlotte
As usual, your comments are amusing and inimitable, Alex!