Alex's Asteroid Astrology

Trump’s flailing campaign, disastrous responses to the pandemic and racial justice movement, and increasingly obvious unfitness for the office he holds, have sent his poll numbers tumbling to near-subterranean levels.  Trailing “Sleepy Joe” Biden nationally by double digits in poll after poll less than four months before the election, Trump also finds that he’s behind by significant margins in every swing state he won last time, and states thought safe six months ago, like Georgia, Arizona and even Texas, are now definitely in play.  What to do, what to do?

It’s a tough predicament for a sociopathic narcissist to be in:  psychologically, he can‘t admit mistakes and course correct – that would be to acknowledge error, which he is constitutionally (no pun intended) incapable of, no matter how small the matter.   But as he doubles down on the division, misogyny, race-baiting and bigotry that propelled him into the office four years ago, he just sinks deeper in the mire electorally. Yet it’s the only game he knows, or is comfortable playing:  attacking others and fomenting the worst instincts in his supporters.  The problem is, it just doesn’t work anymore, in numbers sufficient to retain the presidency.  But again, if he changes his behavior to win votes, then he’s admitting that what he does, doesn’t always work, his choices aren’t perfect, his genius is only temporary, and he’s not flawless.  And he just can’t do that.

Recently there has been some speculation that, faced with the agonizing choice between a re-elect defeat of historic proportions and voluntarily withdrawing from the race, Trump will drop the mic and walk away.  This works in theory – he can rationalize his resignation to rabid supporters (who will clearly buy anything he’s selling) by playing the martyr (“I gave you the best economy the world has never seen, you don’t appreciate me and don’t deserve me” – former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan outlined this possible course of action in an op-ed  weeks ago) or manufacturing a fake health crisis (it’s not like we see his actual medical records anyway, he could say he has anything).   He gets away clean, taking along a loyal fan base with yet another grievance to nurse, and a ready-made subscriber list for “Trump TV”, or whatever political mischief-making he plans to enact going forward.

An optical illusion caused by forced perspective seems to grant Trump the placement he longs for, embedded in granite on Mount Rushmore, scene of his latest super-spreader event for the Independence Day weekend

But the fly in the ointment is obvious – once he leaves the legal protections of the presidency, he’s fair game for every prosecutor from coast to coast.  Trump would undoubtedly negotiate a pardon with Pence (or just pardon himself on the way out the Oval Office door, since he has no shame), but that only applies to federal crimes, and there are plenty of state Attorneys General just champing at the bit to slap him with charges.  When he leaves office, voluntarily or otherwise, Trump faces the very real prospect of losing his freedom.

So what to do?  To quit or to lose?  Is there astrological evidence for either course of action?  We’ve already seen that Trump’s Solar Return suggests he’s fighting very tough celestial odds against victory, and there’s certainly a cosmic case to be built for his losing in November (though to be clear, I haven’t made a final prediction yet, just previewed the general energies of the day).  But could the fantasy of Donald Trump simply bowing out of our lives without a struggle actually materialize into our reality?

According to the asteroids, it could.

An intrepid photographer captured this spontaneous reaction by prior presidential worthies to the racist, divisive, apocalyptic language of their successor at his Independence Day remarks

Asteroid NOT is an anagram named for the Nordic Optical Telescope, but it functions very well in the chart as a symbol of negation, blocked progress, stymie or refusal to proceed, abnegation and nullification.  And the spring and summer of 2020 has featured an ongoing extended trine between asteroid Troemper (our celestial referent for The Donald) and NOT.  Spanning late Pisces/Cancer through early Gemini/Libra, with Troemper zodiacally in the lead, this period reflects increased contrariness on the part of the President (though how could we tell the difference?).  In these circumstances, he’s even less likely to take constructive criticism, respond positively to suggestions for change from others, or alter his chosen course.

NOT and Troemper are within five degrees of trine aspect throughout a six-month period, late March to mid-September, with moments of exactitude April 16^th and August 17^th.  When NOT is prominent, individuals can become mulish, stubborn, set in their ways and unable to adapt; they dig in their heels and keep trying the same tactics even when every route to progress is blocked.  Wherever NOT is transiting in a chart, and whatever aspects it makes, will signal where NOT’s nolle prosequi is issued, the injunction to halt progress and forward momentum, to proceed no farther with the proposed action and become “stuck” at that level.

So Trump is in a protracted phase of refusal to adapt just as his only hope of victory (beyond electoral fraud) is that he do so.  But is this enough to cost him the White House?

Will Trump realize the game is up and choose to simply not accept his Party’s nomination? Asteroid indicators for the week of the Republican National Convention suggest he might.

Probably not, but cosmic help is on the way!  This trine morphs into a Grand Trine Kite pattern at a very critical moment in the campaign.  In late August 2020, just as the Republican National Convention convenes in Jacksonville, Florida, set to renominate Donald Trump as the GOP standard bearer, Saturn, symbol of limitation, restriction, withdrawal and loss, as well as the presidency itself, comes along to fill in a Grand Trine from 26 Capricorn.  With Troemper at 26 through 27 Taurus, and NOT at 27 through 29 Virgo for the span of the convention, the stage is set for a potential presidential renunciation the likes of which we haven’t seen since LBJ in 1968.

With Troemper is TNO Sedna at 28 Taurus, symbolizing isolation and refusal to accept adult responsibility (among other things), and these are riding Donald Trump’s natal MC, the place of career, status and reputation in the world, at 24 Taurus, when he gives his acceptance speech. Trump as isolated and childishly rejecting the rigors of another term is certainly in keeping with the present political atmosphere and his noted lack of interest in the nitty-gritty of the job (as opposed to its honors and perks), such as bothering to read Presidential Daily Briefings that tell him the Russians are paying bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Two oppositions key off these Grand Trine points to form Kite patterns:  NOT opposes Neptune and asteroid Achilles at 20 and 26 Pisces, while Saturn opposes asteroid Karma at 25 Cancer.  Neptune also indicates withdrawal or retreat, retirement or abnegation, while Achilles suggests an exposed weakness or vulnerability, an inherent flaw which proves fatal.  This polarity T-Squares Trump’s natal Sun at 22 Gemini, personalizing this energy to him yet further.

The RNC in Jacksonville in late August coincides with a Grand Trine involving Troemper, Saturn and asteroid NOT – a pattern perfectly timed to elicit Trump’s refusal of the nomination

Karma of course is the principle of sowing what we reap – all actions, good or bad, come back to us.  And this Saturn/Karma polarity syncs up with Trump’s exact natal pairing of Saturn and Karma at 23 Cancer – it’s time to pay the piper for career choices and actions.  Since the Kite is directed by the planets at the “string” (i.e. those that oppose one of the Grand Trine points), and since this Kite has two strings (Neptune/Achilles and Karma), the implication is that Trump’s (Troemper) refusal (NOT) of the nomination for president (Saturn) is driven by forces of despair or hopelessness (Neptune) at the realization of his vulnerability and weakness (Achilles), as well as by a need to expiate prior bad acts (Karma) by making a proactive decision to disengage.

Together, this could indicate a refusal to accept the nomination and run for office again by Trump, who may have been primed for this decision by the Solar Eclipse of 21 June 2020, which at 0 Cancer touched off a T-Square with natal asteroid Whitehouse at 4 Capricorn and natal NOT at 2 Libra.  Might this impel Trump to back away from the fray and admit defeat?

It’s possible, and one factor pushing him toward that brink might be The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump PAC formulated by dyed-in-the-wool Republicans who are embarrassed, aghast and mortified by Trump’s behavior in office.  Their online ads have been particularly devastating, calling attention to the myriad inadequacies, inconsistencies and incompetence which have plagued his administration.  Their May 2020 ad “Mourning in America”, highlighting Trump’s disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic in ways which mimic and lampoon Ronald Reagan’s successful 1984 re-election slogan of “Morning in America”, was a masterful takedown of the President’s lack of leadership in crisis.

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump coalition of former GOP stalwarts, has been effective at reaching Republicans with the message of Trump’s unfitness to serve; natally, Trump has asteroid Lincoln at station, trine the Sun, conjoined the Descendant, opposed Mars and inconjunct Nemesis, prefiguring its potential importance in his biography

Formed 17 December 2019 by such GOP stalwarts as George Conway (spouse of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway), Steve Schmidt (John McCain’s 2008 campaign manager) and Rick Wilson (a Republican political strategist and media consultant), the chart for The Lincoln Project fittingly features an opposition from Troemper at 8 Aquarius to a stationary retrograde NOT at 10 Leo, for the group headed by notable never-Trumpers (NOT/Troemper).  NOT’s embedded posture symbolizes the group’s stoic stance to do whatever is necessary to prevent a second Trump term in office.

This basic polarity forms the spine of a Pentagram incorporating the Sun at 25 Sagittarius, asteroids Whitehouse and Nemesis at 24 and 23 Virgo, and asteroids Photographica with Karma at 24 and 26 Pisces.  The Sun grants visibility to the group, Whitehouse/Nemesis indicates their inveterate opposition to the current occupant of the Oval Office, and Photographica/Karma is the use of visual aids such as ads to bring Trump to task for his poor performance in the job.  Asteroid Lincoln at 17 Virgo is within orb of the Mutable T-Square portion of the Pentagram, but too far wide to aspect the Troemper/NOT polarity.

The Lincoln Project founders, left to right, Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt and George Conway; the chart for the PAC features asteroid NOT at station, opposed Troemper, for the never-Trump group of former staunch Republicans determined to deny him a second term

The group’s importance is foreshadowed in Trump’s birth chart by natal asteroid Lincoln at 20 Aquarius, stationary and trined his Sun, widely angular on the 29 Aquarius Descendant, and opposed Mars, ruling open enemies, at 26 Leo, as well as inconjunct Nemesis at 16 Cancer.  Lincoln’s embedded status (it turned retrograde on June 24^th, ten days after Trump’s birth, at that same degree) and angular placement give it an enhanced strength and power out of proportion to its typical impact.  The connections to the Sun, Mars and Nemesis show its potential as an existential (Sun) threat (Mars) from determined (also Mars) opponents (Nemesis).

Will Trump simply walk away?  If things look dire enough, he might, trusting on his lucky stars (principally that stationary direct Jupiter in his nativity, which has bailed him out time and again) to evade legal jeopardy once he leaves office.  Neptune’s concomitant square to his Sun (it just stationed at 20 Pisces) is inducing flawed perceptions, unrealistic expectations or appraisals, and a general all-expense-paid trip to fantasyland.  Trump is simply unable to integrate realty at this point (he recently excoriated even Fox News for their “fake” poll numbers showing him well behind Biden, stating the actual numbers were in fact much better, with him in the lead, and suggesting supporters get their info from Newsmax instead).  But at some point (unless Trump’s break with reality has become total, and genuine madness – also a Neptunian trait- ensues), Neptune’s disillusionment and despair will set in, and when the reality of his situation comes crashing down, Trump may elect to extricate himself from the coming debacle, whatever the cost.

We’ll just have to wait and see …