Trump: The Art of the Repeal
At 3:31 PM EDT on Friday, 24 March 2017, Washington Post reporter Robert Costa’s cellphone rang. The number was blocked, but Costa took the call anyway, and was surprised to find Donald J. Trump speaking on the other end. “Hi, Bob. So, we just pulled it.”
Robert Costa
Trump was referring to the American Healthcare Act (better known as Trumpcare, Ryancare, or simply “AHA”!), the long-awaited, hastily-crafted, poorly-conceived, super-cruel Republican “fix” for Obamacare. Unable to rally support among the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus (despite last-minute changes to make the Bill even less helpful for the poor and more lucrative for insurance companies), the House GOP leadership, in concert with the White House, pulled the Bill without bringing it to the floor for a vote. Short by several dozens in the whip count, the Bill would have gone down to certain defeat, and been a political albatross around the necks of many Republican legislators come the mid-term elections in 2018.
So Trump’s first major legislative initiative goes down in flames, much like his first major executive order governing immigration, his first choice for National Security Advisor, and pretty much anything else he’s attempted in his first few months in office. This was Paul Ryan’s failure as much as Trump’s, perhaps more. The House Speaker, a policy wonk who specializes in matters like the budget, entitlement costs and healthcare, had seven years to craft a replacement plan for Obamacare, but came up empty. The Congressional Budget Office estimate that some 24 million people would lose their healthcare within a decade if this Bill were enacted, proved the death knell for the plan, as GOP town halls across the country exploded with concerned voters worried about losing coverage.
The myth of Donald Trump’s (author of “The Art of the Deal”) vaunted negotiating skills came crashing down with this failure as well. Unable to charm and schmooze his way to a vote majority, Trump tried twisting arms, cutting special deals with Representatives from geographic areas key to its passage, and finally withdrew from talks, adopting a “take it or leave it” stance. They left it. And the White House has now stated, rather than try again, they’ll just move on to another item on their shrinking agenda.
A chart cast for the moment this failure became public, with Trump’s confession to Costa, shows all the key players in fitting stance for the debacle. With 18 Leo rising, the chart is dominated by asteroid Rip at 17 Leo on the Ascendant. As a marker of death (Rip equates to the acronym RIP, “Rest In Peace”, a common tombstone inscription) Rip signals any ending or loss; in this case, its close opposition to the Moon at 21 Aquarius and asteroid America at 17 Aquarius tells the tale of what was DOA – the American (America) Healthcare (Moon) Act. Asteroid Whitehouse is here as well, at 14 Aquarius, signifying, perhaps, the death of Trump’s legislative agenda, or a minimum, his reputation as a deal-maker.
Trump is imaged as well, with asteroid Troemper at 8 Taurus on the 10 Taurus MC, which is exact with Mars and asteroid Sisyphus – this was a very public (MC) fight (Mars), and a loss which will require going back to the drawing board and starting all over again (Sisyphus, noted for repetitive, pointless action without accomplishment).
The other principals in the story are also well represented. Reporter Robert Costa appears as asteroid Coster, which at 19 Taurus is broadly conjunct the MC from the Tenth House, granting him prominence and visibility. This also fleshes out the Rip-Moon/America opposition into a T-Square. Further asteroid referents for Costa include asteroid Roberts, which at 7 Scorpio conjoins the 10 Scorpio IC and opposes Troemper, suggesting Costa both as foundational to the story (IC) and as Trump’s release point (the Full Moon qualities of the opposition aspect); and asteroid Roberta, which at 2 Aries conjoins the 4 Aries Sun, showing focus and highlighting Costa for the day.
Asteroids Paul and Ryan play their part as well – Paul at 9 Capricorn conjoins asteroid Achilles, emphasizing the House Speaker’s weakness and vulnerability on this issue, with both squared the Sun, again granting prominence for the day. Asteroid Ryan at 2 Gemini is squared to both Osiris at 3 Pisces and Anubis at 4 Virgo, once more signaling the “death” of the bill. Ryan also opposes asteroid Washingtonia at 7 Sagittarius, and together with asteroid House at 0 Libra, opposing the Sun, this shows the House of Representatives and DC as the venue for the loss.
Speaker Ryan pulls the bill.
At first, inexplicably, Trump blamed Democrats for the loss. As if any self-respecting Democrat would voluntarily vote to gut their last president’s signature domestic legislation. Next he turned his sights on the recalcitrant House Freedom Caucus. Speculation grew as to why Paul Ryan evaded his censure, but Trump may have gotten a backhanded smack at the Speaker the next day.
On Saturday the 25th, at 7:41 AM EDT, Trump sent an apparently innocuous, random Tweet to his 27 million followers: “Watch @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews tonight at 9 P.M.” When viewers tuned in that night, they were greeted by a blistering anti-Ryan broadside, as host Jeanine Pirro immediately launched into a diatribe calling on the Speaker to resign after his abysmal failure to manage his own caucus ad get the Bill passed.
Trump’s Pirro Tweet
Was Trump aware of her topic, or just issuing a casual endorsement of a staunch supporter’s show? A chart cast for the time of the Tweet suggests he knew: Mercury the messenger appears at 21 Aries on the 18 Aries Ascendant, opposing politically-minded Jupiter at 19 Libra on the Descendant. Asteroid Paul at 10 Cancer is exactly on the MC, implying that Trump was well aware of the focus of the upcoming show, with asteroid Jeanne (for Jeanine) at 2 Cancer within orb of the 10 Cancer IC. Asteroid Pire (for Pirro) at 27 Sagittarius is an exact match for Saturn, establishing Pirro as Trump’s form of punishment, while the Moon at 0 Pisces squares asteroid Ryan at 2 Gemini, symbolizing Trump calling out the Speaker publically. Troemper itself is still conjunct Mars, at 9 and 11 Taurus respectively, and both oppose asteroid Fox at 15 Scorpio, showing the venue for expressing Trump’s anger (Mars).
We can’t know for certain, but the astrological data supports Trump’s foreknowledge.
