The Trump Campaign Begins
We have a new contender, this time on the Republican side. I know that there are other people contending for the Republican nomination but the chances of one of them threatening Donald Trump’s mastery of the party are slim. Barring a radical turn of events (which may come in January), Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate.
In astrology we feel that the start of any endeavor requires a horoscope. The chart for the official beginning of President Trump’s reelection campaign is, at first glance, quite positive. (Click on Trump 2020 Campaign to see the chart.) We have Jupiter in its own sign, Sagittarius, rising just a few degrees about the Ascendant and the Sun is in the Seventh House close to the Descendant. This was a great time to generate enthusiasm, display optimism and hold a huge campaign rally.
It is only when we look deeper into the chart that we begin to see problems. First of all Jupiter, though brilliantly placed in the chart, receives a square aspect from Neptune down in the Third House of communication. This aspect adds a vague, irrational quality to Jupiter’s exuberance. His Jupiterian optimism might not be consistent with the facts on the ground.
In my last “Following the Moon” entry I wrote about the opposition of Mercury and Mars in Cancer to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. In the chart for the beginning of Trump’s campaign, the Moon has joined Saturn and Pluto in in this opposition aspect. In the Full Moon chart I said this aspect could signify war (and, indeed, since I wrote that article tensions in the region have increased.) In this chart the aspect could indicate that Trump is entering the campaign with a “war-like” attitude. However, there are other ways of looking at it.
Along with aggression and a struggle for power, Mars opposed to Saturn and Pluto can also indicate a long, tough slog. Both Pluto and Saturn put obstacles in the way of Mars’ urge for action. In this chart the conjunction of Mercury and Mars has become exact, so a lot of that Martian aggression will be expressed verbally. The obstacle could be a reluctance of people to believe or respond to that aggressive speech.
The inclusion of the Moon in this configuration indicates that emotions are going to play apart in the blockage represented by Saturn and Pluto. In mundane astrology, the Moon is said to represent the people and certainly, in a political campaign, winning the confidence of the people is the greatest obstacle of all.
As I said in the Following the Moon article, this nasty configuration of Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Pluto and the Moon is mollified by positive aspects. Those aspects center on Neptune which, again, in in the Third House of communication. At his rally, the audience cheered everything Trump said, regardless how contradictory or divorced from the facts his statements were. What’s important to Neptune is not how factual a statement is. Neptune is only interested in the image and the feeling the statement conveys.
However, in Neptune’s world there is not such thing as consistency or reliability. Just because something worked once is no guarantee that it will work a second time. With Neptune you have to be creative and ready to change course with the prevailing winds. If Donald Trump is able to do this then he might have a chance of overcoming the obstacles represented by Saturn and Pluto. If not, despite its enthusiastic beginning, this campaign will be a long and difficult trek.
