Eclipses, Hurricanes and Presidents
It isn’t hard for astrologers to draw a connection between last month’s big eclipse and the havoc caused by hurricane Harvey, and the danger posed to Florida of Hurricane Irma. The notion that eclipses bring disasters in the regions where they seen is as old and Babylonian omen astrology. I’m not sure that this idea actually holds up under close scrutiny, but you would have a lot of trouble convincing people living in East Texas or on the west coast of Florida otherwise.
Of course, a lot of people are disappointed that this eclipse failed to bring a wind strong enough to blow a certain president out of office. Right now, with Jupiter trine his Sun and sextile his Moon, Trump’s position actually seems to be relatively solid. He even got a chance to look presidential visiting storm torn areas of Texas. However, just as many of the structures that were left standing by Harvey will eventually prove to be unsalvageable, the structure of Trump’s presidency have been significantly weakened by events that took place around the time of the eclipse.
Trump’s remarks with regard to the Charlottesville demonstrations are going to continue to haunt him, as will his pointless goading of North Korea. Republicans who had up until recently remained remarkable docile in the face of their president’s outrageous behavior are now beginning to publically distance themselves for the administration. Trump’s decision to cancel the DACA program, against the wishes of many people in his party, will no doubt continue this trend.
Now that Congress is back in session, they have to get to work solving a vast array or problems, including fixing Obamacare, raising the debt ceiling, restructuring the tax code and providing federal funds to relieve the victims of Hurricane Harvey. If Irma follows its expected course and hits south Florida, more federal aid is going to needed there. Getting congressional Republicans, who have long touted their position as fiscal conservatives, to spend all this money (while at the same time cutting taxes) and also build Trump’s beloved border wall, is going to take some doing.
Trump has done nothing to lighten the load of Congress. By cancelling DACA he has forced the issue of immigration control to the top of their to-do list. Given that no Congress since the Bush administration has been able to agree on a workable plan to deal with this problem, it’s hard to imagine that the issue will now surrender to an easy fix. I doubt that Donald Trump made any friends in Congress with this decision.
Jupiter is moving fast and by Sunday its trine to Trump’s Sun will be history. Meanwhile, Saturn has turned direct and is continuing to oppose his Sun and conjunct his Moon. These are debilitating aspects and would be problematic even for a President at the top of his game. With his poll numbers at historic lows and eroding support from leaders of his own party, Donald Trump is definitely not at the top of his game.
All of this is, of course, taking place with the Mueller investigation going boom, boom, boom in the background. While hurricanes and presidential posturing take the headlines, the big unknown remains: What has and will Bob Mueller find? I’m wondering if there aren’t some Republican members of Congress who are looking at this investigation with as much expectation as many liberals, hoping that Mueller finds something, anything, that will allow them to blow this hurricane of a president out of office before he destroys their party, and maybe even the country.
