So here we are. Every four years someone is touting the upcoming presidential contest as “the most important of our lives”, but 2020 seems to truly deserve that appellation. Will we endorse the divisive, science-denying, racist and autocratic Narcissist-in-Chief, or listen to our better angels and chose a different path?
The good news is that Donald Trump will be resoundingly rejected by the American people. The bad news is that their opinion is secondary at best.
There’s a new point (to me) which has come across my radar recently – asteroid TRIUMF, which may have bearing on the 2020 election outcome. An anagram for the Canadian national particle accelerator (originally called the TRI University Meson Facility), TRIUMF seems to operate well as its phonetic clone, “triumph”, an indicator of ultimate victory or success.
TRIUMF would of course have many applications not solely related to the political or career sphere, in theory pertaining to any successful endeavor. But this teeny orbiting rock chunk does appear to portray a pattern of influence on US presidential nominees and elections, at least in recent times.
Now that the Democratic and Republican conventions are safely behind us, and their nominees are official, we can take a look at the acceptance charts for those nominations, as a preview of what to expect for the campaign and the upcoming election in November.
Joe Biden confirmed his Party’s nomination by uttering “with great honor and humility, I accept this nomination,” at 10:49 PM EDT on August 20th, 2020, from a largely empty school gymnasium in Wilmington, Delaware, with himself, his running mate, the spectators and crew observing current CDC guidelines on mask-wearing and social distancing.
Donald Trump’s statement that “with a heart full of gratitude and boundless optimism, I profoundly [? did he mean “proudly”?] accept this nomination” occurred on August 27th at 10:28 PM EDT, in front of a crowd of 1500 people, largely without masks, packed check-by-jowl on the White House lawn.
On Tuesday 11 August 2020, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made his long-awaited choice for running mate in the 2020 election: US Senator and former nomination contender Kamala Harris (D-CA). I suggested Harris as a running mate for Biden in my January 2019 profile on her when she announced her candidacy for president, based not so much on astrological analysis as a gut feeling that this would make a winning team.
Harris’ chart shows a clear professional drive for the White House, and the connections between her and Biden suggest she’ll be an asset on the campaign trail, and a worthy successor when the time comes, should they win in November.
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.
In a surprise 6-3 decision June 15th, the United States Supreme Court ruled that gays and transgendered individuals are in fact protected by Title VII of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act, which already prohibits discrimination in the workplace on sexual grounds. Conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump appointee Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the bloc of four liberals in essentially grandfathering in sexual orientation and gender identification to the nearly sixty-year-old law. Well, duh.
The senior Justice in the majority determines who will write the decision, and John Roberts wasted no time in passing this hot potato along to junior Justice Gorsuch, perhaps the unkindest cut of all for conservatives, who have put up with all manner of crudity, ignorance, and anti-Christian-values shenanigans from Donald Trump, all in the name of the justices he would appoint to the Supreme Court, whom they assumed would rule in support of their views. As historian Jon Meacham recently opined, “they sold their souls to Trump for the Supreme Court, and now find that his check has bounced.”
