If Donald Trump maintains his grasp on the US presidency for the duration of his upcoming solar year, then he will likely complete his first term in office. He may even win reelection. But looking ahead at the year on tap, that’s a huge “if”. This appears to be the pivotal year for Trump, the one that decides how the remainder of his life unfolds.
There are two principal sources to which Trump Resisters look for relief from the malaise, corruption and chaos which is the current administration: Special Counsel Robert Mueller, leading the FBI investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign; and lawyer Michael Avenatti, representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, with two civil lawsuits against the president. The two men could not be more different, but both present significant dangers to the completion of the Trump presidency.
On April 28, 2018, the rearward-traveling asteroid Troemper comes to a standstill in the heavens, turns, and resumes direct motion. Our celestial referent for Donald Trump, Troemper has been in retrograde motion since January 30th, when it stationed at 2 Libra, conjunct Trump’s natal Neptune at 5 Libra and squared natal Whitehouse at 4 Capricorn. This natal square says much about the ongoing muddle, disorder and deception proceeding from Trump’s Oval Office tenure, and the ensuing period has arguably been one of increased confusion, isolation and paranoia or perceived persecution (all Neptune keywords), affecting both the President (Troemper) and the administration (Whitehouse).
Early on Monday, April 9th, the FBI raided the Manhattan office and hotel room of Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and confidante, Michael Cohen, known as Trump’s “fixer.” For a decade Cohen has acted as Trump’s consigliere, smoothing rough patches and paying out hush money to who knows how many of his sexual partners (Steve Bannon once characterized this as “hundreds”). Cohen, in short, knows where all the bodies are buried.
On Sunday evening, 25 March 2018, TV’s premiere news magazine, “60 Minutes”, aired an interview with Stephanie Clifford, AKA Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who alleges a 2006 affair with Donald Trump, and who was paid $130,000 by his lawyer, scant weeks before the 2016 election, to keep quiet about it.
On Friday, January 12th, the “Wall Street Journal” reported that in October 2016, Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in hush money to Stephanie Clifford, AKA “Stormy Daniels”, an adult film star with whom Trump allegedly had an affair in 2006, after his marriage to Melania.
