It goes without saying that Holy Week should not be about Trump, or the Mueller report, but tell that to those who choreographed today's absurdity in D.C.
It almost played out like a Holy Week "Passion play"--Attorney General William Barr lifts Trump up as the patient,
but tortured victim of an attempt to smear his good name and delegitimize his
“amazing” presidency, and everyone else is left with their jaws hanging open by his absolute loss of all objectivity.
If it wasn’t clear before
today’s 9:30 am press conference that Barr has chosen to become Trump’s personal attorney and protector, rather
than the nation’s Attorney General, it certainly is now.
In that 9:30
a.m. press conference, Barr repeatedly stated that the Mueller
investigation found “no collusion” between Trump, members of his campaign or any American and the Russian effort to
interfere in our 2016 election. He neglected to say that the investigation
never was able to get Trump to sit down with Mueller for an actual interview
because his lawyers feared a “perjury trap”—that Trump agreed only to submit
written answers to questions, which would have been carefully lawyer-fied.
Barr made no attempt to hide the incontrovertible facts that the Mueller team unearthed about Russia's efforts to interfere in our election, but he downplayed the part in the report that discusses how Trump and members of his team were aware of and at times welcomed Russia's help, even if they didn't criminally conspire with the Russians. The stark difference between "illegal" and "dishonorable" comes to mind here.
Click here
for a transcript of Barr’s prepared remarks.
Nothing about today’s performance by
Barr was surprising: we’ve seen how carefully he’s worked to manage public
perception about the Mueller report, and the Democratic-led committees in
Congress that have been waiting nearly a month to receive the report have
certainly noticed these efforts, as well. Click here
for Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler’s statement protesting Barr’s
attempts to manipulate public perception and not “let the report speak for
itself.”
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| House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jerry Nadler. |
Nadler protested when the DOJ told
his committee that Congress would receive the report 90 minutes or more (between
11-12pm) after Barr’s 9:30 press
conference characterizing its contents. Clearly, Barr’s plan to roll-out the
report was calculated to give even Trump time to further characterize the
contents before Congress would receive it. Will anything Congress might want to say about the report even matter with all this effort to spin and
manage public perception?
CNN
captured this point very well:
“An aggressive administration rollout plan for the release of a redacted
version of Mueller's final report Thursday is sparking accusations of blatant
political interference. The choreography is bolstering accusations that Trump's
team is tipping the scales of justice over a report into the President's
behavior before and after an election that a hostile foreign power, Russia,
sought to help him win.”
So Barr has put his official stamp
of approval on the “No collusion, no obstruction” meme, and Trump is the
beneficiary, with a nice bonus, to boot: Barr’s comments this morning
simultaneously painted (without naming them)
those Democratic-led committees who have a constitutional role of oversight at
stake here as the victimizers, who
have simply been out to get Trump who cooperated
so fully.
Really??! So Trump is now the
suffering and redeemed “Christ” figure—right in time for Holy Week?!
Yes, Barr
chose to characterize Trump as the long-suffering victim in this whole
scenario, as follows:
“Yet, as he said from the beginning, there was in fact no
collusion. And as the Special Counsel's report acknowledges, there is
substantial evidence to show that the President was frustrated and angered by a
sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled
by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks. Nonetheless, the White
House fully cooperated with the Special Counsel's investigation, providing
unfettered access to campaign and White House documents, directing senior aides
to testify freely, and asserting no privilege claims. And at the same time, the
President took no act that in fact deprived the Special Counsel of the
documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation. Apart from
whether the acts were obstructive, this evidence of non-corrupt motives weighs
heavily against any allegation that the President had a corrupt intent to
obstruct the investigation.”
So, in Barr’s version of events, all
those Twitter tirades by Trump that sought to demean and destroy the careers of
Mueller and DOJ members, all the firings that just happened to have something to do with the investigation, and on and
on…were just a matter of Trump’s “sincere belief” that he was being victimized,
and that he had “no corrupt intention” and was totally justified. Are we supposed to take this as an objective conclusion?
Clearly, the story has been framed
for us, and as we’ll see, the astrological timing of Barr’s presser couldn’t
have been more advantageous to Trump, so to my eye, it appears that an astute
astrologer helped to choreograph this roll-out as well. All told, it’s no
surprise that the sentiments expressed would reflect a heavy-handed attempt to
protect Trump’s interests and to cast any skeptics in the role of “presidential
harassers.”
On that note, let’s take a quick
peek at the 9:30 a.m. chart for Barr’s appearance on its own (Chart
#1, below).
Chart
#1: Barr Press Conference, April 18, 2019, 9:30 a.m. DST, Washington, DC. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Mutable T-Square: ASC (Gemini) opposes
Jupiter-DSC (Sagittarius); this axis squares Neptune/Venus (midpoint, Pisces). As we’ll see in Biwheel #1 below, this t-square ties into Trump’s chart very
snugly—hence the advantage I mentioned above, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
It’s also relevant to the significance of this t-square that Mars
(Gemini) squares Neptune. First, let’s consider how midpoints expert
Michael Munkasey reads the Jupiter square to the Neptune/Venus
midpoint:
“Openness to good advice on how to use makeup or adornments;
excessive use of deceptive practices in financial or artistic endeavors; indulging
in religious deceptions as a form of holiness.”[1]
Munkasey also characterizes the Venus/Neptune
midpoint apart from such aspects in a way that makes sense here:
“Scandals concerning the misuse of, or deceptive practices
within, the treasury or internal resources; subversives who desire to gain
access to finances, spies in the financial branches, monetary fraud, art
deception.”[2]
With Trump’s Gemini Sun conjunct the
press conference ASC and his Moon conjunct conference Jupiter
here (see Biwheel #1 below),
we can deduce that Trump’s perspective on events is key here, and he does
indeed think that anyone (i.e., Congress) who wants his financial information
(tax returns) is “subversive.” We can only imagine that he’s suspicious of IRS
workers who might cooperate with Congressional oversight, as well (spies?).
Even so, numerous side
investigations (not linked to the Mueller one) are looking into some aspect of
Trump’s finances as we speak—that “excessive use of deceptive practices in
financial endeavors” Munkasey notes could still be an anxiety-producing pitfall
(Trump Moon). These investigations won’t necessarily be put off by
Barr’s conclusions, but they could be weakened.
These investigations are looking at
the Trump Inauguration Committee’s possible misuse of funds, into the possible
illegal funneling of foreign dollars into the 2016 election, into possible
money laundering activities with Deutsche Bank, and so on. Could all this be
simply swept under the rug because Barr wants to give Trump a clean slate?
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has been
trying to make the argument that Congress doesn’t have legal standing to demand
Trump’s tax returns. To my knowledge this congressional inquiry is not related to the Mueller
investigation, but even so, if the Mueller report “totally exonerates” Trump,
and Barr has painted him as a victim, will Mnuchin’s argument gain
strength? The Southern District of New
York is pursuing a bank fraud line of inquiry in regards to Trump’s taxes which
is distinct from the Mueller investigation: will the aura of innocence Barr has
spun around Trump hamper that in any way?
The
midpoints have it: Trump’s presence looms behind Barr’s conclusions
It's like another miracle--Abraham parting the sea and leading his people through comes to mind. In an almost uncanny way, a number of
significant midpoints in and between the two charts in Biwheel 1 below tell the story we’ve been witnessing over the past
two years, culminating today. Rather than explain, let’s just proceed to the
biwheel to illustrate. Setting these two charts next to each other creates a
stunning visual representation of what just went down in DC between the DOJ and
the White House.
So this will be a very quick rundown,
based solely on the midpoints in question. No doubt, Trump has a lot at stake
in trying to frame the Mueller report narrative in his favor, but a lot less
concern is being given for what the nation
has at stake in getting to the truth of the matter. As we saw with the
heavy Mutable influence on the press conference angles, there’s ample reason to
believe that Barr was spinning, rather
than reporting on the facts in Mueller’s
report. Let’s begin.
Biwheel
#1: (inner wheel) Donald J.
Trump, June 14, 1946, 10:54 a.m. DST, Jamaica, NY; (outer wheel) Barr
Press Conference, April 18, 2019, 9:30 a.m. DST, Washington, DC. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Barr Press Conference (BPC) Mercury/Pluto
(midpoint, Aquarius) opposes Trump Mars-ASC (Leo). Trump’s tendency to
burst into a rage over criticism, or worse—that he might be stopped from doing something he
wants to do—is well reported, so what would he have done if Barr didn’t give him what he wanted today? Of
this midpoint, Munkasey says the following:
“Aggressiveness and persistency in quests for sexual power
and control; an untiring energy in your search for information, demands that
information be used in the ways you plan; mental preparation before difficult
exercise.”[3]
Trump is ever the “alpha male,” so
even the sexual connotations seem to
fit here. Even without those connotations, however, this interpretation seems
quite apt: we know that Trump was given more than one preview of Barr’s plans,
so yes, he had time to mentally prepare, and apparently any “demands” he made
that “information be used in ways he planned” were pretty carefully honored. We
can’t know for sure what Trump
expected or demanded of Barr, but what more could he ask for than what he got?
Trump’s control-seeking Leo
Mars definitely is aggressive and persistent in everything related to self-defense (ASC--Trump makes no
secret that he “punches back” when attacked)—we’ve
seen this behavior throughout the entire investigation, so why not now? This
points to an important point that Barr ignored in his conference remarks—Trump
was not a patient, complying
cooperator with the Mueller investigation. If cooler heads hadn’t prevailed at
some key moments, Mueller himself would have been fired!
The White House
cooperated out of one side of its mouth, and did its best (remember all those tortured interviews with Giuliani and others?) to destroy the
investigation’s credibility with the other—that’s
not cooperation. The pugilistic attack mode is far more characteristic of
Trump than the picture Barr painted of his behavior this morning.
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| Trump and Barr |
BPC Sun/Jupiter Rx (midpoint, Aquarius) also
opposes Trump Mars-ASC (Leo). Again, Trump’s perspective and
expectations weigh heavily. Munkasey’s read:
“Leadership qualities, rebuilding self confidence when facing
life’s problems and trials; pushing and striving for excellence in all efforts;
confidence and haste in the need to progress in all areas of life.”[4]
The relevance here is pretty
self-explanatory—Barr clearly sought to rehabilitate any damage that’s been
done to Trump’s presidency, and that can’t help but boost Trump’s
self-confidence (it’s difficult to see that as an issue, with his Mars-ASC).
We’ve already seen the White House hint at coming “investigations into the
investigators”—it’s likely he won’t be happy to simply take the victory Barr
handed him without pursuing a vendetta of some kind.
We can imagine that Trump has
probably felt like a “caged lion” (Leo ASC) during the Mueller
investigation—how can we expect him to behave now that Barr has thrown open the
cage door?
BPC Venus/Pluto (Aquarius) also opposes
Trump Mars-ASC (Leo). This seems like an incredible “gift” of the
Cosmos—all these midpoints converged around one purpose, making Trump feel
better about himself. This particular midpoint is especially potent, however,
because it operates on so many levels.
On its own, without Trump’s Mars-ASC,
Munkasey characterizes it as:
“Volcanic activity deep within the earth which causes great
destruction of agricultural activities or financial centers; attracting
elements of organized crime; a breakdown within the social fabric of a
society.”[5]
At this point it’s good to remember
that the Sibly Moon—We the People—falls
at 27+Aquarius, so we’re already subject to that domineering opposition from
Trump’s Mars-ASC, however today’s Venus/Pluto midpoint at that point
suggests that we “ain’t seen nothing yet.” Will Trump be totally emboldened by
today’s results and more determined to push tectonic changes to our society and
democratic system of government?
Venus/Pluto’s
connection with potential “elements of organized crime” may also be
right on—some of the financial investigations that remain open into the Trump
organization may end up treading into that territory.
One way or another, having a man in
the White House who inspires such suspicions is already tearing at our social fabric—it’s not hard to imagine what
the conversations over Easter dinner will be like this year!
Trump’s Mars-ASC connection with
the Venus/Pluto
midpoint speaks to ways in which Trump could weaponize his response to any perceived threats, especially in
regards to “big money.” This segues very intensely with the transits of Saturn
and Pluto (Capricorn) opposite his Saturn-Venus (Cancer). He’s
clearly feeling pressured financially (Venus), with his authority (Saturn)
challenged and restricted by the “powers that be” (Congress and other
investigations), so it will be no surprise if he puts his compliant Attorney
General in charge of helping out with those as well.
BPC Mars/ASC conjoins Trump Uranus (Gemini)
and these points square BPC Neptune (Pisces). This is more complicated
because it involves multiple points in each chart, however Barr clearly stood
in front of the audience and acted (Mars/ASC) to “spin” (Neptune)
Mueller’s narrative to suit Trump’s purposes (10th house Uranus).
It’s no secret that Trump relishes the role of change-maker and disrupter (Uranus),
and the Cosmos (and Barr) seems willing to go along with him here.
BPC Jupiter Rx/Pluto (midpoint, Capricorn)
opposes Trump Mercury (Cancer). Munkasey has a fairly precise
explanation for this, given what we saw this morning:
“Articulating and expounding upon your needs, goals, or
opinions; an obsessive need for studying how to isolate yourself physically
from others; you often feel you are above the law; thoughts on eliminating
offensive ideas.”[6]
The “you” that is articulating and
feeling itself above the law here could be either Barr or Trump—Barr has arguably stepped way over the bounds of proper conduct for an Attorney General by
spinning the Mueller report’s conclusions as he has—but considering Trump’s Mercury
is involved, we can see that his viewpoint is woven into it as well.
So, collusion, anyone? Not the kind the Mueller report was after, but certainly
of a defensive/protective kind:
Barr’s natal Eris-North Node (Aries) square
Trump Mercury (Cancer) and Barr’s natal Uranus conjoins Trump’s Mercury—Trump
seems to have found his warrior/protector in Barr. Barr’s No. Node lends a
fated feel to this whole relationship—we have to give Trump credit for knowing
how to pick his defenders, but in accepting the protector role, Barr is
redefining what it means to be Attorney General! Click here
for a closer look at Trump’s chart set next to Barr’s.
Final
thoughts
Timing is everything, right? Trump
and company have a clear knack for staging and launching a message when and how
it suits them—he wasn’t a Reality TV star for nothing, after all, and we’re
definitely being played for ratings on this Holy Thursday/Passover.
Both celebrations focus on victimization at the hands of
corrupt regimes, and on redemption—of being held unjustly captive and finding
favor from God—of death being overcome by Light and Life.
If Barr orchestrated this event to consciously
play to this symbolic overlay—while conveniently “dumping”
the report at a time when the least number of people would want to pay
attention—then he and his "team" (Trump?) deserve an Emmy for “Best Cynical Performance in a Reality TV show.” The evidence for conscious timing is weighty.
You draw your own conclusions!
Meanwhile, all the best to everyone for
this Spring holiday weekend!
Raye
Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and former educator. A graduate of
the Faculty of Astrological Studies (U.K.), Raye focuses on mundane,
collective-oriented astrology, with a particular interest in current affairs,
culture and media, the astrology of generations, and public concerns such as
education and health. Several of her articles on these topics have been
featured in The Mountain Astrologer and other publications over the years.
She is
also available to read individual charts—contact her at: robertsonraye@gmail.com.
© Raye Robertson 2019. All
rights reserved.
