Stephen Bannon – bullying cuckoo in the mare’s nest * Updated

 

 

Stephen Bannon, ex-Goldman Sachs, owner of the alt-right Breitbart which has hosted anti-semitic, white nationalist and anti-abortion pieces over a decade, has shoehorned himself in to an increasingly powerful position in Trump’s inner sanctum. First campaign manager, now top political adviser, sitting in on conversations with Putin and to be a regular on the National Security Council. In a break with tradition, the Chief of Joint Staffs and Director National Intelligence will only be invited on occasion, which Susan Rice, Obama’s National Security adviser, described as ‘stone cold crazy.’

Bannon was born 27 Nov 1953 Norfolk, Virginia and is a Sun Sagittarius; with a fanatical, angry and slippery T square of Uranus in Cancer opposition North Node square Neptune Mars in Libra. He’s also got Pluto, maybe Moon, in Leo square Venus Mercury in Scorpio so a heavyweight charm, definitely vengeful; with Jupiter in Gemini trine Neptune Mars, sextile Pluto (Moon) – controlling, lucky, determined, loves publicity (if not the media).

Bannon’s Jupiter falls in Trump’s 10^th conjunct his Sun, so will be seen as a luck bringer; but Bannon’s Uranus is conjunct Trump’s Saturn, which is differing agendas; and worse, Bannon’s focal point Pluto is conjunct Trump’s flamboyant Mars, so he’ll attempt to bully him, which may work while Trump is floundering around but it’ll come a cropper at some point. Tr Neptune starts to oppose the composite Mercury Sun Saturn conjunction in their relationship chart from early March, starting to chip away at the foundations of their co-operation, worsening from mid May onwards as tr Neptune opposes the Sun Saturn through till late 2018.

Bannon’s chart hasn’t much of cheer with three tr Neptune hard aspects to midpoints from April onwards pointing to losses; plus several disruptive tr Uranus aspects to his Uranus, Pluto, Neptune. The worst patch for that will be in late April/early Mars with tr Uranus opposition his Mars/Saturn, repeating late in the year which is usually a disastrous setback. He’ll be fuming fit to explode in Sept/Oct 2017 with tr Pluto square his focal point Mars – completely trapped and blocked in. That’s just after the August Leo Eclipse which will conjunct his Pluto and probably his Moon.

What is clear is that no one in Trump’s close circle likes him. Some like Ivanka and Kellyanne especially. Of the relationship charts with Bannon:

Mike Pence: Composite Sun Mars Jupiter square Saturn – sagging badly at the moment. Chilly patches through the year.

Jared Kushner: Composite Sun square Uranus Pluto, a real push and pull relationship; extremely edgy, ratchety and explosive in February with tr Uranus opposition Saturn; with a definite dip in March and through the autumn till year end as tr Neptune squares Mars; and blocked frequently with tr Saturn hitting the Sun square Uranus Pluto.

Ivanka: A fearsome amount of dislike from Uranus Mars Pluto which is getting the separating and impatient tr Saturn square through this year; plus tr Uranus opposition Saturn from late April which will erupt tensions into the open. Plus a composite Sun Neptune square Jupiter – she possibly thought him OK initially but now distrusts him.

Kellyanne: A bad-tempered composite Mars square Saturn which is breaking out into open warfare from early March onwards till late 2018 with tr Pluto square Mars.

James Mattis, Secretary of Defense: Suspicious crossover with a composite Sun Neptune Mercury which is being hammered by separative and tension-erupting tr Uranus opposition Mercury Sun from mid March.

Reince Priebus: Composite Sun opposition Mars and cold/doubting Venus Saturn Neptune.

Rex Tillerson, State: Composite Saturn Neptune square Uranus – suspicious and at cross purposes; with a power-play-for-the-upper hand Jupiter square Pluto. High tension and foot stamping through from mid March onwards; and worse in 2018 if Bannon survives that long.

Mike Pompeo, CIA: V chilly through this year.

Paul Ryan, Speaker: A nasty composite Sun Mars trine Uranus Pluto – serious dislike.

Mitch McConnell: Distrusting with composite Sun square Neptune, under considerable pressure from tr Pluto conjunct the composite Sun from this February to end of 2018.

There are always tensions and professional rivalries bubbling in the hot house atmosphere of a presidency, especially this one. The only comforting thought is that Trump is losing faith in him fairly soon, or Trump goes down and takes Bannon with him.

One additional thought is that Bannon is not a stupid man so the seeming incompetence of the spew of executive orders may well be a smokescreen for deliberate strategy, that of ‘disorienting the ‘enemy.’ Former colleagues from his Hollywood days said: “He always spoke in terms of aggression. It was always on-the-attack, double down… macho stuff. Steve has an obsession with testosterone.” Another: “Never back down, never apologize, never show weakness… He lives in a world where it’s always high noon at the O.K. Corral.”

In 2013 he described himself as a Leninist. “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” [Lenin was a revolutionary communist, who headed Russia’s Government after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and then the Soviet Union, overseeing the formation of a one party socialist state. Opponents were suppressed in the Red Terror, a violent campaign orchestrated by the state security services; tens of thousands were killed and others interned in concentration camps. Critics on both the left and right see him as the founder of a totalitarian dictatorship responsible for mass human rights abuses.]

His chart isn’t like Lenin’s or indeed the Vietnamese General whom he evidently also idolises. So Bannon is more of a teenage wannabe, but still capable of creating havoc. What may spike his plans along the way is that while he may relish being loathed by the enemy, his boss doesn’t.  Trump is pathologically dependent on being loved, adored and admired, so he may start pushing back and indeed blaming Bannon at some point for his plummeting poll figures.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/31/steve-bannon-s-long-love-affair-with-war.html