Gordon Sondland – loyalty versus self-interest

 

Gordon Sondland, the US Ambassador at the centre of the Ukraine scandal driving the impeachment hearings, and a Trump donor and supporter, is stuck between a rock and a hard place as he faces giving testimony on Wednesday. A WH aide has testified that Sondland claimed to be acting on Trump’s orders in pushing for an investigation into the Bidens, and was regularly in touch with him. Sondland’s loyalty to Trump will be tempered by the fate of Roger Stone found guilty of lying to Congress and facing prison time. An analyst said: “If I was him, I would be very worried about a referral to the committee for a criminal charge. The committee now has a lot of leverage over him to get him to tell the truth.”

Sondland, born 16 July 1957 Seattle, Washington, was a hotel chain owner and then moved into merchant banking. He has a Cancer Sun sextile Jupiter and square Neptune; with a flashy five planets spread out through Leo – Uranus Mercury, Mars Venus, and Pluto; with a self-righteous Saturn in Sagittarius.

His Pluto is conjunct Trump’s Saturn Venus and is under considerable pressure from late January 2020 on and off through the year. He was looking very off balance in late October/ early November when he gave his earlier closed-door testimony, but looks suspiciously confident mid this month to mid December with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Node; damped down slightly in the first few days of December by tr Saturn square his Solar Arc Venus. Then he’s facing losses late December to early February. He’s also got the devastating and confused Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Neptune in 2020 as well as tr Pluto opposition his Sun. He’ll bounce again in the years thereafter with his Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Jupiter and Solar Arc Jupiter square his Pluto. But he won’t look back on this phase with much relish.

His relationship chart with Trump isn’t that straightforward with a needs-space composite Sun Uranus; a blow hot, blow cold Sun square Jupiter Saturn; and a power-struggling composite Mars Pluto. Tr Saturn will square the composite Neptune from this coming Wednesday till December 1st for a frisson of uncertainty and doubt; will become over-excitable across New Year and through January; and very over-wrought late January to late February with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mercury sending bitter recriminations flying and harsh words spoken in discussions.

5 thoughts on “Gordon Sondland – loyalty versus self-interest

  1. Ok, this guy definitely went all Leo in his testimony, throwing Pence and Pompeo (especially), and quite possibly even Trump under the bus! I gather he is incredibly well represented by a topnotch lawyer, something being a real (selfmade) multimillionaire instead of a cash poor grifter in an ostrich jacket or silly tophat will get you.

    BTW, there was a story based on WH sources on Trump’s memory lapses on “Newsweek” today. I don’t think the timing is casual. We all know he isn’t quite “there” by now. But I think this will be his last line of defense, “get out of jail” card.

  2. Not beating around bushes here, he will be trialed and convicted for, at least, perjury. Following Manafort and Stone timelines, probably around 2020 elections. He also has seen what happened to Manafort – he can’t rely on pardon from THIS President, and definitely will not be pardoned by the next in case Democrats take the seat.

    Also, if you noticed, there was an unscheduled medical visit by Trump Saturday afternoon Washington time WH framed as his “yearly checkup” taken in advance. However, Press Sec Stephanie Gifford went to Judge Jeanine show on Fox. Gifford is a horrible liar, which probably is the reason she doesn’t give pressers. She would be eaten alive. But she shouldn’t go to friendly Fox, either, because I think that even Trumpers can see through her act and will wonder. If they wanted to assicure the base, they really should have sent Kellyanne Conway, who could sell this if we didn’t know about her past.

    • [Following the 2018 physical], [t]hen-White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson recommended the President get on a diet, start exercising and set a goal of losing a dozen pounds, but sources told CNN in February that Trump had made only minor changes to his diet and exercise regimen since his 2018 exam.

      • Trump has been visibly unwell lately. He was barely coherent and slurred words delivering a speech mainly from a teleprompter in New York (some people say he is nearly blind, but too wain to wear classes, but I don’t think it’s just this). At his presser with Erdogan, I noticed his posture was even worse than usually, not only tilting forwards, but to side. Maybe he forgot or was told not to wear a griddle. Press following his rallies also reported his speech in Louisiana was much shorter than usually. His sole purpose in life is to bask in adoration of the others (and I really think it is, money is only a tool for him), and he wouldn’t shorten a rally for a minute if not absolutely forced to.

        My theory is, still, that he has some sort of dementia on the top of all the other issues. Many milder cases get worse in Autumn. He had these same issues last year, and will experience them again around Election Night 2020.

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