TRUMP’S ASTROLOGICAL BLUNDER
His Timing Could Not Have Been Worse
Ronald Reagan was vilified for consulting an astrologer before making major decisions; perhaps Trump should have done the same. Every legitimate astrologer would have told him not to make any major moves while two planets, Mercury and Venus, were in retrograde motion, or appearing to move backwards across the sky. They would have told him that important decisions or actions taken when these planets are in retrograde motion tend to fail. It looks like Trump’s “Liberation Day”, when he announced his massive tariffs on every country except Russia at the peak of these retrograde cycles, was poorly timed.
On Tuesday, the editorial board of the right-wing National Review and billionaire Jamie Dimon both spoke out against the tariffs. Several Republican senators and representatives broke ranks and called for congress to take back its sole authority to impose tariffs, and economists across the globe have been warning that this trade war will cause a global recession. It is clear that Trump does not understand how tariffs work. He explained last week how he arrived at tariff rates for each country by conflating trade imbalances with tax policy, a formula that experts have called “bonkers”.
In other news this week it looks like the bromance between Trump and Elon Musk has ended. Musk has apparently moved out of the White House and is now publicly criticizing Trump’s tariffs. I thought that Musk would be out by the end of the month after his stunning rebuke by Wisconsin voters, but did not expect it this soon. Musk is now trying to salvage his fortune but will never be able to salvage his reputation. Tuesday, all Tesla operations were banned in France. If Tesla fails, Musk may have to sell his other companies to satisfy creditors. It is not yet evident if the DOGE team will continue its illegal operations.
We may, as early as next week, begin to see resolution of the tariff situation, the federal budget, and the economic crisis that Trump created. Mercury resumed its direct motion earlier this week and Venus will do the same tomorrow. The investment markets have been wildly seesawing, and major investors have been pressuring Trump to back off. As the impact of higher prices starts hitting the retail markets, we should see a sudden drop in Trump’s approval ratings. I find it hard to understand how nearly half of the country’s population still supports him. That should change when the cost of groceries, clothes, appliances, and cars soars because of tariffs.
And finally, we are beginning to see some serious grass-roots resistance to Trump and Musk’s destruction of the federal bureaucracy and rule of law. More than five million true patriots showed up on Saturday to protest Trump and the Project 2025 agenda. I expected this sort of turnout immediately after the November election, but apparently we were all too shocked by Trump’s victory and distracted by the holiday season to act when it would have been most effective.
The turnout last weekend was impressive nevertheless, especially considering that the weather across the country was mostly cold, raw, and wet. That there was not a single report of violence or any sign of opposition to the thousands of protests, even in the reddest states, is an indication that the MAGA crowd was caught off-guard, never expecting that the resistance was this strong. I anticipate that there will be even larger turnouts at similar events as the weather gets better and that right-wing goons will resume their practice of violent disruption.
The tide has turned, and the resistance is growing. Trump is going down and Project 2025 is failing. The Republican party is in disarray and warring within itself. And the resistance is not coming solely from Democrats, but also from independents and an increasing number of Republicans. Light is winning over the dark and the stars and planets seem to be on our side. Now is the time for anyone who has been watching quietly from the sidelines to step up, speak out, and join the march to save our democracy, our economy, and our personal freedoms.
(Cartoon borrowed from theworks.com)