“Remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists,” tweeted former KKK leader David Duke in response to Donald Trump’s half-hearted attempt to blame both sides for the white supremacist violence against peaceful protesters in Charlottesville. And the Washington Post is now directly comparing Trump’s modus operandi to Joseph McCarthy (URL below).

Both of which lock in to the key astrological transit on the USA chart from 2016 to early 2018. Transiting Uranus is squaring the USA Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto, as it was in 1953/54 when McCarthy, having lied, smeared and ramped up hatred through his anti-Communist hearings, was finally tumbled. When he finally crashed and burned tr Uranus was exactly square the US Pluto.

Mercury opposition Pluto does exacerbate suspicion, paranoia, is associated with demagogues and those guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation, promotes over-intense debates with a drive for domination and little latitude for compromise, can teeter on the brink of nervous collapse through strain. Uranus is on an 84-year cycle of transits, so hard aspects come round every 21 years.

Trump, of course, learnt his McCarthy playbook from his mentor Roy Cohn (See post: March 7 2017). At the time, former president Harry Truman lamented “the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spread of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of our society.” A Post reporter Murray Marder described “a period of national turmoil. It was the closest we ever came to a real totalitarian atmosphere.” It wasn’t the media who brought McCarthy down since they’d been exposing his lies in the preceding years. In rural and low-income areas, he was deemed to have been unfairly vilified and gained support. Ultimately it was when the politicians turned against him and there was sufficient of an upswell of public opinion that his platform was demolished.

During another tr Uranus square the US Mercury opposition Pluto in 1973/4, Watergate was raging, escalating and ended with Richard Nixon’s resignation to avoid impeachment charges, as tr Uranus squared the US Mercury for the final time. VP Spiro Agnew had previously resigned faced with tax evasion charges.

Nixon died under the next tr Uranus hard aspect to the US Pluto opposition Mercury in 1994, then in Capricorn conjunct Neptune, so a very high-tension mood, as the Whitewater Investigation into Clinton financial dealings got underway, which although it fizzled out, did prepare the ground for the later impeachment of Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky affair. Jackie Kennedy also died, Superman Chris Reeves was paralysed, the Oklahoma bombing killed 169; and Newt Gingrich as Republican leader took over both houses, under a Democrat president.

So it has always been a significant and risky time in the US for presidents and the national morale, with the Republicans centre-stage. Back it comes round again and Trump is under multiple investigations which could lead to Federal indictments or impeachment ultimately; and the US is seeing an upsurge in far-right vitriol.

The USA Solar Return for July 2016 to 2017 was very strained, vengeful and explosive with Mars in Scorpio inconjunct Uranus; and New Moon opposition Pluto; as well as the neurotic with Saturn square Neptune. The Solar Return from July 2017 to 2018 is, if anything, more aggravated, dead-locked and prone to violence from Sun Mars opposition Pluto; and Mars Mercury square Uranus.

www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trumps-approach-to-the-press-mirrors-another-politicians-joe-mccarthy/2017/08/11/80186b0e-7c6f-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.943fec294de9

Pop star Taylor Swift has won the first step in her court battle with ex-radio DJ David Mueller, who she claims groped her at a 2013 concert. He sued her for $3m (£2.3m), saying she cost him his job. She countersued him for allegedly groping her and is seeking a symbolic $1 in damages.

A singer songwriter, she is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having started recording in her mid teens. Born 13 December 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, with an unverified birth time of 8.36am, she has an unaspected Sun Sagittarius, with a Gemini/Cancer Moon, a sparsely Venus in Aquarius; and Pluto and Mars in determined Scorpio (not conjunct). It’s an all-over-the-place chart, dominated by Mercury in Capricorn sitting in the middle of the triple conjunction of Uranus Neptune Saturn opposing Jupiter (Moon) in Cancer. Her Jupiter is retrograde and will continue to stay that way throughout her life but it clearly hasn’t held her back.

So the major aspect in her chart is that striking opposition which is perhaps why she has such difficulty settling to one partner, with a revolving-door love life.

Down into lesser aspects and Harmonics, her success becomes more obvious. Her musical, creative 7H (septiles) is marked with a super-confident Jupiter Pluto; and an innovative Uranus highlighted as well. Her get-it-together and artistic 5H also pulls together lucky, successful Jupiter, Mercury and Sun; as well as emphasising Neptune Pluto and the Node – Nep Pl always has a hint of sky-high ambitions with results  following. Her 19H is also notable – lucky in prosperity though not always happy. And her super-star 22H is also a Jupiterian feast.

The unaspected Sun will make her an independent spirit, focused on self-importance, and able to detach from the environment around her. A sparsely aspected Venus suggests a personality that is not comfortable in social situations, nor able to express her feelings in as open a way as others, so they remain under-developed. But like all planets which are not well integrated they have that switch-on switch-off quality – sometimes not operating and sometimes overly intense.

She looks serious at the moment with tr Saturn conjunct her Sun till early September, though also confident with tr Pluto trine her Mars/Jupiter midpoint. The birth time is too iffy to be usable. But the tr Saturn into Capricorn will damp her spirits somewhat in 2018/19 as it moves up to her first Saturn Return and opposes her Jupiter and Moon. Tr Jupiter following along behind will give her a lift as it is conjunct her Sun in 2019 and then moves across her Capricorn planets in 2020.

That amount of success so young must make crafting a life plan tricky. Where does she go in her 30s, 40s and 50s?

The FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the US election appears to have widened with a pre-dawn raid on the home of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager who was present at the Don Jr/Russian lawyer meeting in June 2016. Manafort worked for years for rich pro-Russia Ukrainian politicians and an oligarch close to Putin. Global banks have also been subpoenaed for records of transactions involving Manafort and some of his companies, and according to the Wall Street Journal he’s being looked at for money laundering. All of which brings the scope of Mueller’s probe nearer to Trump’s finances, since several of his properties in New York were bought by Russians. (Though there appears to be no illegality in not checking the source of tainted money.) Part of the FBI strategy, it is thought, is to lean on Manafort to persuade him to be more co-operative.

The Trump camp are distancing the President from Manafort, saying it was a brief association and not close. Though the National Inquirer, which often acts as an attack dog for Trump, ran a sex-scandal story this week on Manafort about his liaison with a mistress half his age. When in a corner, lash out and smear.

Manafort, 1 April 1949, is an excitable, pro-active Sun Mars Venus in Aries; with Sun Mars opposition Neptune and trine Pluto – so definitely ambitious on a stratospheric level. His Jupiter in materially-ambitious Capricorn is on the focal point of a Yod to Uranus sextile Saturn – such a strained Jupiter can be brought low by an over-inflated sense of worth and rightness.

He looks understandably stressed at the moment with tr Pluto trine his Mars/Uranus midpoint; jammed in through Sept/October this year; and has some devastating downers from tr Neptune between now and early 2018.

His relationship chart with Trump has a hard, locked-together composite Sun Mercury square Saturn Pluto – so not an easy link to break. Plus an explosive Mars Uranus conjunction, which gets the undermining tr Neptune square Mars in 2019/2020.

Manafort’s stellium in Aries of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Sun all fall in Trump’s financial 8^th – so a secretive relationship, much tied up with money. And Manafort’s Saturn is conjunct Trump’s Ascendant Mars – an aggravating interface with Trump feeling that Manafort has the potential to be a threat to his image.

The relationship charts between Manafort and Don Jr and Jared Kushner (all three at the June 2016 Russian meet in NY) are both at crisis point this month with their respective composite Suns opposing the Leo Solar Eclipse. Don Jnr’s relationship chart with Manafort oddly enough also has a Yod onto a focal point Jupiter, which tends to bring fateful changes of direction, stemming from wild over-confidence. Jared’s relationship chart also has a marked composite Jupiter in an ‘adventuring’ (i.e gambler’s) square to Uranus and Mars.

This scenario could run and run.

Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the UN, is considered one of the more successful of Trump’s Cabinet members and more independent of his wild views than some. She took the lead in persuading China and Russia to join the sanctioning of North Korea over its nuclear programme, which was no easy task. And will be heavily involved with Rex Tillerson and James Mattis in finding a diplomatic route out of the escalating war of words and threats between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Born 20 January 1972, her Sun is on the cusp between Capricorn and Aquarius; and she has a courageous and impulsive Mars in Aries opposition Uranus square Mercury in Capricorn. Her Mars/Uranus midpoint is heavily stressed at the moment from tr Pluto conjunct, which can indicate violent interventions and, at the very least, a significant test of nerves. Unless she was born very early morning, tr Pluto then makes a high-risk and trapped square to her Mars in Sept/Oct before hitting her Mars/Uranus midpoint again late Oct to early December; and then runs her into a total upheaval in December across the New Year with tr Pluto square her Uranus (which repeats later in 2018). So an exceptionally bumpy and dangerous path ahead. Plus her natal Saturn opposition Neptune is colliding with the Solar Arc Mars Uranus Mercury T square now and for the next two years, with discouragement in 2018 and failure in 2019. Sounds like one of these ghost train dark rides ahead for her.

Her relationship with Trump is stressed and aggravated at the moment till early September with tr Saturn opposition the composite Mars.

Raine Spencer was nicknamed ‘Acid Rain’ by the children when she married Earl Spencer, the father of Princess Diana and Charles Spencer. Their mother had fled the nest and they did not appreciate the new incomer, though by all accounts it was a good marriage, with Raine giving him support when he fell seriously ill. She was the daughter of Barbara Cartland, the romantic novelist, did the debutante thing, married and turned into a powerhouse of energy, taking up local politics, and working for the UN.

She had an ambitious though not easy chart with Mars Mercury in Libra on her midheaven opposition a 4^th house Uranus square Pluto in the 8^th – volatile, uncompromising, forceful. Her 9^th house Sun Virgo squared Saturn in Sagittarius opposition Jupiter in Gemini Descendant so wide interests, a traveller, a thinker and prone to mood swings.

After Diana’s divorce they did become closer and that relationship, although not exactly a marriage of hearts and minds was a good deal easier than Raine’s with her stepson, the present Earl Spencer. The relationship chart with Diana had a composite Sun Pluto trine Jupiter so there would be a possibility of it transforming and offering help in difficult circumstances. Though a chilly Moon Saturn opposition Venus and a fiery Mars square Uranus wouldn’t design it for long exposure together.

The relationship chart with Charles Spencer is unremittingly grim with a composite Sun Venus Mercury Saturn opposition Saturn possibly square Moon. So outright dislike. The moment his father died, he took over the family pile and ripped out all the decorative touches Raine had added.

Prince Henrik of Denmark is grumping his way to the grave, announcing that he doesn’t want to be buried beside his wife Queen Margarethe, despite a specially designed sarcophagus being made for the couple at her request. And then he gave an interview to a celebrity gossip magazine saying his wife does “not respect” him. He has always been unhappy about the fact he has never been recognised as her equal, repeatedly saying he wanted to be named King Consort, rather than Prince Consort.

Born 11 June 1934 10pm Bordeaux, France, he has a New Moon in Gemini in the 6^th trine Saturn in Aquarius on one side and trine Jupiter in Libra on the other. Part of his problem may come from an intense Pluto in his 7^th house of marriage and he’s clearly not got the better end of Pluto’s determination to maintain an iron control and superior status. He’ll hate being put down as he sees it, not regarded as an equal. His Saturn is also square his Mars in Gemini, which will give him a gritty irritability and a sense of being unfairly treated by life. He got into a strop when the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Frederik, took precedence over him some years back at a New Year reception.

It makes you appreciate Prince Philip, another 6^th house Gemini, who has stood by Queen Elizabeth stalwartly and never complained about Prince Charles’ presence.

Their relationship chart does have an affectionate composite Sun Venus; though there’s also a struggle for the upper hand composite Jupiter Pluto conjunction as well. Tr Pluto is opposing the composite Jupiter in 2017/18 so he’s clearly determined to make his point.

Their wedding chart, 10 June 1967, hinted at problems ahead with a harsh Saturn opposition Mars, suggesting duty took precedence over one partner’s needs; and an unstable Sun square Uranus Pluto.

On his personal chart his Solar Arc Pluto is conjunct his Jupiter which will be amplifying his need to stand out as special; plus tr Uranus square his 7^th house Pluto, causing ruptures with his Royal Mrs. And his Solar Arc Sun is conjunct his 8^th house Neptune so confusion may be setting in.

He’s not been the easiest spouse for her with his Uranus conjunct her 10^th house dutiful Saturn; and his blocking Saturn in her 8^th house of intimacy; with his Pluto conjunct her Ascendant and trine her MC. She does have Venus in Gemini which chimes with his New Moon, and both have Mars in Gemini. But his Pluto is square her 10^th house Jupiter, hence the envy of her prime position.

Glen Campbell, the fresh-faced country singer whose soulful lyrics – Wichita Linesman, Galveston, Phoenix on My Mind, Rhinestone Cowboy – made him a smash hit in the late 1960s and 1970s, has died of Alzheimers. Born 22 April 1936 8.14pm Delight, Arkansas, he was the seventh of 12 children with a sharecropper father, started guitar playing at five and though he could never read music became one of the top session guitarists in LA, working with Phil Spector, the Beach Boys, The Monkees, The Righteous Brothers, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Then he carved out his own career.

As ever the public image and private reality were a million miles apart as he described in his autobiography. At the height of his fame he spent his nights hoovering up lines of cocaine while reading the Bible. A tempestuous, violent and destructive relationship with 21-year-old country star Tanya Tucker, also a cocaine addict, fuelled his fall from grace. He eventually cleaned up his act with wife number 4 and took to evangelical religion.

He had a hard-working 6^th house Sun Uranus in Taurus trine his late Leo midheaven, who helped him carve out a unique niche for himself. His creative and neurotic Saturn opposition Neptune squared onto an optimistic, lucky Jupiter – which gave him musical Neptune in the 10^th, sombre Saturn in his childhood/domestic 4^th and expansive Jupiter in his financial 2^nd, so pluses and minuses. His Saturn was in a bleak, enduring trine to Pluto, sextile Moon, Ascendant, Mercury, Mars all in Taurus.  He was an emotionally complicated man – possessive, dependent, angry, shaped by the rigours of his poor childhood, and a mother preoccupied with child-bearing. He also had a creative and healing-for-others-if-not-himself Water Grand Trine of Saturn Pluto and a Scorpio Ascendant, formed into a Kite by Ascendant opposition Moon – so making the Moon, which is usually prominent in individuals who work with the public, the driving planet. His Pluto in the 9^th would give him strong religious beliefs.

His 7^th Harmonic (septiles) is heavily aspected and his strongest with the Harmonic midheaven tied into the Sun, Jupiter and Mercury. That’s most often the prominent harmonic with musical types.

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Trump’s bombastic Mars in Leo just moved up to Defcon1, as expected astrologically given the impending collision with the Leo Solar Eclipse in less than two weeks’ time. His threat to North Korea that it would see “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if it continued with provocations, has unfortunate parallels with President Harry S. Truman’s 1945 post-Hiroshima warning to Japan if they didn’t surrender. “They may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” Not only are the words similar but the upcoming (Great American) Solar Eclipse on the 21^st is in the same Saros Series as the one which occurred a month before the first and only nuclear bombs ever dropped, by the USA on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

There’s no inevitability of the same outcome since this eclipse series repeats every 18 years or so. But it is ratcheting up the tension.

The relationship chart between the USA and North Korea is being buffeted by this month’s eclipses – the composite Sun almost exactly on this week’s Lunar eclipse and the composite Mars conjunct the Solar Eclipse. With emotions running very high through September/October with tr Pluto opposition the composite Venus.

Kim Jong Un has a questionable birth date, but was inducted as leader at 11.57am on 29 Dec 2011 in P’yonggang, NK. This chart indicates his grip on power is in its most unstable period over the next six months as Uranus moves by Solar Arc to square the Sun Pluto conjunction exactly. The tension is mounting at the moment with tr Uranus opposition the Saturn, which most often brings temper tantrums, kicking against restrictions and a self-willed, autocratic mood. There’ll be more of the same this December; and an enraged, frustrated, cornered, situation in January 2018, with the exact Solar Arc Uranus square Sun Pluto by late Feb/March 2018 (though the effects tend to precede the exact date.)

The worry is that China will get dragged into the furore. Despite counselling North Korea to back down, they won’t take kindly to US aggression in their region. The Mars Pluto in mid Leo in the 7^th on the China chart is on high alert this week with the Lunar Eclipse in opposition; and tensions are escalating there with the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the China Saturn, exact within a few weeks.

The China/US relationship chart is at its most combative for years in 2017 to the end of 2018 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars, which will bring aggravated fury. Tr Saturn is also opposition the Uranus now till early September. With the composite Sun hitting the Solar Eclipse this month as well. All very much on edge.

James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, 8 September 1950, might be a pointer to any US military action, though it’s tricky to extrapolate from his chart which influences come from being in the centre of the swirling chaos of the Trump internal circus and which might be outside pressures. He does look in a high-risk phase with tr Pluto square his Sun/Mars (either this month or Sept/Oct depending on his birth time), and repeating in 2018. He’s also got a ‘jolting shock’ Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Sun this year, maybe early 2018. With a fair amount of Neptunian confusion, losses and mayhem running till 2019. What is most pointed is tr Pluto square his Mars/Saturn midpoint from early 2018 to late 2019 – that is disaster-ridden, dangerous and could be an indicator of military action.

Tense times. But despite the Eclipses becoming a minor obsession this month, there’s not much else showing up as catastrophic. Though on second thoughts the Eclipsed New Moon is conjunct Mars and trine Saturn and Uranus, so quite inflammatory. Late Sept/early Oct look edgy; as does late Nov and Dec 2017.

The Lunar Eclipses located to North Korea all look stressed this month as do the two in 2018, most especially the July one which looks devastating – with the Full Moon conjunct Mars on the Asc/Desc square Uranus.

Guam, 10 Dec 1898, in the direct firing line of threats, looks understandably panicked and that runs on, worsening through 2018/19/20 with tr Neptune square its Pluto and then Saturn Sun. The Guam/NK relationship chart is heavily disrupted exactly now with tr Pluto trine the composite Uranus; at risk of violent interventions through the next few months and  worse in 2018/19 with tr Pluto trine the Mars/Uranus midpoint and then composite Mars. So it is living under the shadow of a brutal attack.

Mike Pence is denouncing as “disgraceful and offensive” suggestions that he is financing-up to prep for the 2020 presidential election. Well he would say that, wouldn’t he, especially within spitting range of the Donald.

Just to run over his political CV. On social and cultural issues, he is to the right of the right – anti-abortion; abstinence is the entire key to sex education; condoms are useless in AIDS prevention; global warming “is a myth”; and evolution is a false theory whereas creationism “is a fact”.

There’s no birth time for him so predictions are iffier than usual. But he does look exceptionally upbeat and successful over the 2021 Inauguration with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter in Scorpio; and the tr Jupiter Pluto in Capricorn conjunct his Solar Arc Jupiter in the aftermath of the November 2020 election. That’s once he has pulled himself out of a real trough in 2018/19 with tr Neptune square his Gemini Sun.

What is more worrisome may be his economic theories – or at least those of his prime backers, the Koch Brothers. They focus on private enterprise profit, low taxation, removal of big business regulations including the minimum wage; and a shrinking of state power in general. The Kochs fund, among other things, nearly 300 academic courses at colleges and universities, where the syllabus is dictated by the right: Keynes is bad, sweatshops are good and climate change is a myth. They don’t hold strong views on ethnicity, statehood or private vices. They just want more money and less government.

The Kochs’ backstory and influence is documented in Jane Mayer’s 2016 book Dark Money. Their father got his start-up oil money came from Stalin, then the Nazis, graduated in the US to the John Birch Society and he was an abusive disciplinarian of his sons. Mayer writes. Charles’s goal was to “tear the government out ‘at the root’.” Another commentator thought “he was driven by some deeper urge to smash the one thing left in the world that could discipline him: the government”.    All these angry, ‘destroy the state’ guys have ginormous father issues, which they are projecting out onto the global scene. Scary.

The Kochs apparently dislike Trump, though they’re sticking around to help along the tax cut campaign; and definitely dislike Robert Mercer’s camp with Steve Bannon (see post June 29 2017.) Though what seems to join all these alt-righters together is a common cause of wrecking the state and eviscerating the constitution if that’s what it takes. So they will attack the judiciary, the FBI, the media, the EU with its multilateral systems and rules.

Charles Koch, 1 Nov 1935, is a Sun Scorpio opposition Saturn, sextile Mars in Capricorn, sextile Saturn. His younger brother David, 3 May 1940, has a Taurus Sun conjunct Saturn on one side with Saturn square Pluto, and Sun conjunct Uranus on the other. So father comes across as bleak, unyielding, disruptive, certainly a hard driver. And ultra-confident and not averse to breaking a few rules with Jupiter Pluto aspects strong in both charts.

Pence gets on exceptionally well with Charles Koch with a composite Sun Venus square Jupiter in their relationship chart. Both Koch Bros are having an undermining 2017/18; and then move into a roller coaster ride with Uranus causing a fair few upheavals (though that doesn’t always mean bad); but with a considerable amount of disillusionment as well. Both look more enthused from 2022 onwards but that may be business matters with tr Saturn out of Capricorn by then. Charles doesn’t look too enamoured around the Nov 2020 election while David seems very upbeat over the Inauguration, though even he’s still on a Neptunian slide through till 2022.

As someone remarked the one outstanding virtue of Trump is that he’s so incompetent nothing gets done; Pence might well be a different kettle of fish altogether.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/17/dark-money-review-nazi-oil-the-koch-brothers-and-a-rightwing-revolution

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/07/trump-out-in-year-usa-problems-just-beginning-paul-mason

www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/robert-rebekah-mercer-charles-david-koch-republican-party