Astrological Precedents in Presidential Debates -- Part II: The Tortoise and the Hare
Who Will Win the Race This Time?
At 9pm on June 27th, 2024 Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face-off in a debate that will for the first time in television history feature two U.S. presidents. The debate will also feature our two oldest candidates in U.S. history.
64 years ago John Kennedy and Richard Nixon appeared in the first presidential debate to ever be televised. Even though that debate was over six decades ago, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are now only 30 years older than Nixon and Kennedy were when they were running for president.
Somehow we managed to skip an entire generation of talent. The Baby-Boomer generation has been in charge since Bill Clinton became president in 1993. Generation X where did you go? You were here just a minute ago! Instead of fresh faces and experience reflecting the current zeitgeist, we now have two characters from a children’s storybook, the Tortoise and the Hare.
Donald Trump
The challengers to ruling party are signified by the 4th house. The planet ruling the 4th house signifies their leader. With Aries on the 4th house cusp, Mars signifies Trump. See Trump vs Biden for an explanation of why Mars is the best significator for Trump. Mars, in the debate chart, is placed in its own 4th house (fig. 1). Mars, positioned in its own strong and angular 4th house, is well positioned to act. In addition to being the home of the opposition party, the 4th house is also representative of “…the ideology which represents love of the land; this would also embrace patriotism and a strong concern with ‘roots’, tradition and history” (1). This is a fitting description of a conservative leader running a populist campaign.
On the dark side, Mars finds itself at 13° Taurus in the sign of its detriment. When a planet is in a sign of its detriment it tends to bring out the worst qualities of that planet. We have seen Trump debate before, and he can come across as an aggressive bully. The rules of this debate will restrain him from repeatedly talking over Biden as he did in the debate of 2020.
When Mars is in the sign of Taurus, Venus, as the ruler of Taurus, becomes the dispositor of Mars. The dispositor planet attempts to solve the problems of the planet that it disposes. When we consider that Venus signifies Biden in addition to being Mars’ dispositor, this becomes an apt description of Biden’s attitude towards Trump who he views as a problem to be solved.
I suspect we will hear Trump make many non-specific platitudes about the need to return the country to a former time when everything was great. Biden will focus his remarks on Trump as an existential threat to the future democracy.
Joe Biden
The ruling party is signified by the 10th house. With Libra on the 10th house cusp (fig. 2), Venus is in charge of the affairs of that house. Joe Biden as the leader of the ruling Democratic party is signified by Venus. See Trump vs Biden for an explanation of why Venus is the best significator for Biden. Venus, in this chart, is placed in the angular 7th house of international conflict, treaties, and enemies of the state. This is an appropriate placement for a president embroiled in two oversees wars and who has declared his number one political opponent as an enemy of Democracy. Biden will undoubtedly spend much time lambasting Trump and reminding us of the events of January 6th, 2021.
Mercury, in this chart, is the ruler of the 9th house of international affairs. Mercury is also in the 7th house and is afflicted due to its close trine aspect to Saturn and a Void-of-Course (VOC) Moon. When the Moon is VOC, it makes no aspects with another traditional planet within the next 12°. When Mercury is “…afflicted it shows double-dealing commercial and trade disputes with foreign countries and general disagreement in international affairs” (2). While Biden continues to push for further financial aid for Israel and Ukraine’s war efforts, public support has been steadily declining as the conflicts drag on. Both Mercury and the Moon are applying to Uranus, another worrying sign.
Venus is 6° 24˙ from the Sun and so is considered combust. When a planet is combust, within 8.5° of the Sun, it shows someone consumed and overpowered. It can also indicate someone who has an inability to take advice due to their present mindset and inability to “see”.
The Aspects
While Venus is Combust the Sun; The Sun approaches Mars in a friendly Sextile. In this chart, the Sun rules the 8th house of war and natural disasters. This would seem to indicate that in any discussions regarding war Trump will successfully present himself as the candidate better equipped to handle our current foreign entanglements.
Both Mars and Venus are approaching Saturn in the 2nd house of our country’s assets. Saturn, the greater malefic, also rules the 2nd house. Our country has, for the past two years, suffered through a period of high inflation especially in the areas of food and housing costs. Saturn, the planet of scarcity, ruling the 2nd house and placed in the 2nd house reflects this difficult inflationary period that has been especially hard on the poor, working class and young of our society. Mars is slightly closer to Saturn and gets in the way of Venus’ approach to Saturn. Trump, as the candidate not currently in power, will have the advantage here and will certainly be hammering Biden on his handling of the economy.
The closest aspect on the chart is between Venus and Mars. Venus applies to Mars in a close sextile of less than 1°. The sextile relationship is odd considering the animosity shared between the two candidates. This could indicate that the debate will be less acrimonious than otherwise expected. The rules of the debate will prevent Trump from attempting to overpower Biden as he did in 2020. This will make for a more peaceful and substantive debate.
Some conservative pundits are predicting that Biden’s cognitive decline will cause him to lose the debate miserably or even cancel the debate outright. James Carville bet $100 dollars that Biden is a no-show. I expect Biden to show up, and I suspect that he will perform about as well as he did during his last State-of-the-Union speech. I believe he will do what he needs to survive and that if he eventually drops out of the race it won’t be because of th0is debate performance. The Republicans will say Trump won the debate while the Democrats will say Biden won. I think history will show that, in this debate, Trump gained slightly while Biden continued to tread water.
In the Kennedy Nixon debate chart, the two candidates significators, the Sun and Saturn, were in a difficult square aspect. The Sun (Kennedy), moved to, or applied, to Saturn. Because the Sun was in the sign of Saturn’s exaltation, Saturn received the Sun. This square aspect with reception resulted in Saturn (Nixon) granting a favor to the Sun. And so, Kennedy was perceived as the winner of the debate at least amongst those who watched the debate on TV. See part 1 of Astrological Precedents in Presidential Debates.
On the 2024 debate chart, the aspect between the main significators Venus and Mars, is a sextile without any reception. Instead, Mars is in Venus’ sign of Taurus. Since Venus approaches Mars, it can be said that Venus is committing its disposition to Mars. Mars is already uncomfortable in the sign of Taurus, the sign of its detriment. Then Venus comes along in the sign of Cancer, the sign of Mars’ fall, adding insult to injury. I think there is a potential for Trump to make a major gaff and experience a great stumble. Biden’s team is likely hoping to be able to spring some kind of trap on him. Both candidates will have to be careful not to overplay their hand.
My prediction is this, if you run the same race over and over again, at some point, you will get a different result. Sooner or later, the Tortoise will get so old that he’ll forget he’s even in a race and go home. Meanwhile that crazy Rabbit, who’s been running all over the place, will eventually run right across the finish line. Biden will remain viable, but Trump will squeak out the win.
The Houses Temples of the Sky (2006); p. 69
The Houses Temples of the Sky (2006); p. 79
Second Thoughts
I should know better than to second guess myself, but here I go. The preceding was what I had decided to go with up until late last night. It was then that I started looking at some YouTube commentary and I re-watched the latest videos of Biden in his ever increasing state of cognitive decline. I said to myself, there is no way he is going to make it to the debate. Or if he does, it will take a miracle for him to get through 90 minutes. So, I started looking at the transits for June 27th in relation to Biden’s natal chart something I had been avoiding because I was trying to make a more concise delineation this time. Usually I put the event chart (the transits) on the inside, opposite of what most people do. Now, I went back and put the transits on the outside (fig.3). Now I can finally see what it was I had been suspecting all along. What I, and probably most people can see, is confirmation that the time has definitely come for Biden to step aside.
1) Pluto trines Biden’s natal Neptune within 4˙ of arc.
2) Saturn is within 29˙ from the 4th house cusp. The 4th house can indicate failing health if there are other indicators.
3) The Moon, ruler of his 8th house of death, is in the 4th house and trines his natal Jupiter 13˙ of arc away. The two planets are in mutual reception. This is not good when one of them rules the 8th house and the other rules the 1st house of the nativity.
4) Neptune, in the 4th house, trines his natal Venus 1°22˙
5) Mars in the 6th house of sickness opposes his natal Mars 1° 14˙ orb
6) Uranus in the 6th house sextiles Jupiter 27˙ of arc distance.
7) Jupiter the ruler of the 1st house sextiles his natal Pluto 21˙ of arc.
8) The Sun sextiles his natal Moon 6° orb. This is the only aspect greater than 2°. The majority of aspects are well under 1°
9) Venus in the eighth house of worries, obsession, and death trines his natal Mars 39˙ of arc away.
10) Mercury in the 8th house trines his natal Mercury 20˙ of arc away
Every planet makes an aspect. Nine of them close or very close. Almost all of the aspects are coming from the 4th house, the 6th house of sickness, or the 8th house of worries.
I don’t think there will be a debate and if there is it will be a fiasco. I definitely think Biden will step down at or before the Democratic convention on August 19th. I can imagine a scenario where they can’t get him to agree. He is clearly not competent at this point; I hope Congress is preparing to act if necessary. I’m not sure how competent Congress is at this point though. God help us all; it is time for the Tortoise to go home.