Election years in the United States are often more eventful that other years, and even though 2016 is not a “watershed” year like 1960, 1980, 2000, it is still proving to be quite interesting.  Interest, excitement, and constant news about the election keep people’s minds away from what is actually happening in the real world, serving as a good cover.

The first thing to consider is the major transit over the last several years, as illustrated in the graphical ephemeris below.  That was Pluto transiting opposite the Sun of the United States.  Since Pluto travels so slowly, taking about 250 years to go around the sun, this transit has never happened before in the history of the United States; the last time this happened was 1767-1770, when America was being hit by such measures from Britain as the Townsend Act, the Stamp Act, and the Tea Act, that were causing many Americans to become increasingly disgusted with the British.  In that case, the Sun represented Britain. Now the Sun represents the President and the government of the United States. This transit represents the extreme displeasure the citizens are displaying toward their elected government and President; many realize that after the Great Recession at the beginning of the current President’s term, their lives have only gotten worse, even though the lives of the wealthy, especially the bankers that caused the problem, have only gotten better, much better. During the last seven years the amount of income and more importantly wealth possessed by the top 1% of the population has increased to a level unseen since the first Gilded Age of the Nineteenth Century, and perhaps not even then. Meanwhile, the government tries to convince people that things are getting better, through speeches and bogus statistics. People are angry. This transit will be within two degrees of exact during this presidential year.

Pluto Transiting Opposite US Sun

This transit of Pluto “explains” the extreme animosity to the President’s ideas in Congress, and the rise of “insurgent” and “anti-establishment” candidates in the primary contests that so many commentators have mentioned. It is also why I believe that any candidate from the Party of the President can not be elected unless he or she strongly attacks the current President, which of course will not happen.

But first a disclaimer. When I write this, the first primary has yet to be held. Since these are primaries, candidates appeal (pander?) to their base so you can not believe anything they say. The candidates for the Reactionary Party (Republicans) try to be appear more conservative, and the candidates for the Conservative Party (Democrats) try to appear more liberal. We assume for this discussion that America is still a democracy, which is a very dubious assumption.

When Donald Trump initially announced his run for President of the United States I immediately discounted it as a publicity stunt by the host of a television reality show, one that only served to advance the agenda of comics such as Jon Stewart, who was still on the air at the time. But then I took a look at his birth chart.

I think that it should be a requirement that if you want to run for public office you need to provide an accurate birth time. But I expect that I’m in the minority in that view. Surprisingly enough, we only have two good birth times for all the presidential candidates this year (the other is Jeb!), including those who have dropped out. Even Hillary Clinton, who has been in the public eye for a quarter century, has two birth times twelve hours apart, which is of little use. Fortunately Donald Trump was well known long before the current election and has an accurate birth time.

Donald Trump

The first thing I noticed about the chart is that it is a full moon birth, with the North Node of the Moon conjunct the Sun. This immediately told me that this was a eclipse, and in fact there was a full lunar eclipse on June 14, 1946. So Mr. Trump is an example of an eclipse birth. I recently had an eclipse in a solar return, and the effects were quite spectacular, so I started to pay more attention to his candidacy.

Three things stand out in his chart: Uranus conjunct the Sun. This suggests someone who is a maverick, revolutionary, eccentric, does not like the rules, a progressive mind (Ebertin);. Venus conjunct Saturn: difficulties with women, restrictions in love, a sense of duty (Ebertin). And lastly Mars at the Ascendant: Angry, a temper, displays violence, a fighting spirit (Ebertin). Because the Sun is quite important, I think his Uranian tendencies would be the strongest feature of this person, but most people would pay attention to his anger, since the Ascendant is what people notice, the persona as it were, and not the basic character of the individual, which in this case is more Uranian than martial. Most of his planets are in the East, nearer the Ascendant, and as was said before, this indicates someone who is more in charge of his own destiny.

It is also valuable to see how Donald Trump connects to the United States chart, since he is being seen and judged by the people of the Unites States. Here are two charts, the first with the US planets within the Trump natal chart, showing how Trump responds to the US, and the second with the planets of Trump within the chart of the US, showing how the US responds to Trump.

Most interesting is the Mars exchange in both charts. Trump’s Full Moon falls on the Mars of the United States (right), with his Sun conjunct the US Mars. Furthermore, Trump’s Mars (left) is opposite the US Moon. He definitely connects with the martial spirit of America – they love the angry part of him.  Some might suggest that this is sure to lead to war if he is President (of course, since the current President has gotten us involved in seven wars it will be tough to top him) but the most enduring trait of of a President is found in the planet most closely aspecting the MC.  For example, George W. Bush had Mars most closely aspecting his MC, and he is most known for his Iraq War. For Trump this planet is Mercury, with the Saturn aspect almost as close.  Does this mean he would be seen as an intellectual or communicator (I can hear the laughter now) or someone who reins in the country?

Another interesting connection is through Mercury.  Trump’s Venus-Saturn conjunction – the importance of which was pointed out earlier – is on the US Mercury (left), and Trump’s Mercury (right) is conjunct the very important US Sun-Jupiter-Venus. His way of thinking really reverberates with what America is at its core. And this to me explains why he has drawn such vociferous criticism –- Trump is America, and it is frightening to look in a mirror if you don’t like what you see.

Most interesting is how Trump’ Moon falls into the first house of the US: The US feels that this is a man that fits well with the country, that he is at home. This may explain his popularity over the years with America.

He has made some outrageous statements about Muslims, and this gives everyone a chance to decry that terrible man Donald Trump who we are certainly not like. He must represent the end of Western civilization, they proclaim , and though I have yet to hear anyone compare him to Hitler using that dictator’s name  (I stand corrected, I just saw one) , several have called him fascist. And the mass media certainly takes part in the pile-on, breezily reporting any statement that might offend the liberal readership . But some things puzzle me.  Trump has made several statements that are to the left of putative socialist Bernie Sanders, but these are never reported. One of the closest allies of America has a religious test for immigrants and no Muslims are allowed in, but this is never brought up. That same nation, while very close to Syria, has not accepted even one Syrian refugee but no one mentions this as some abomination. It’s enough to make one’s head explode.

It is interesting that statements suggesting there should be no Muslim immigration at present are considered a prime example of blatant Islamophobia, but the killing of many, many thousands of Muslims in several countries, the investigation of mosques in the United States, and the setting up up Muslims because they are Muslims for bomb plots is consider perfectly fine. I recently saw the figures that 23,000 bombs have been dropped on Muslim countries in 2015. It seems like the old adage that many of us learned as children has been turned on its head: Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. The major hypocrisy is mind blowing.

The most similar previous President to Donald Trump, in my opinion, is Andrew Jackson, the seventh President.

Andrew Jackson definitely had a temper. He was involved in some 100 duels during his lifetime, and carried a lead shot in his body until he died, since it was too close to his heart to remove. He killed at least one person in a duel.  Less that decade before he first ran for President he invaded Florida — at the time owned by the Spanish and a refuge of escaped slaves — and killed two British subjects. This could have been an international incident. Most of the cabinet of James Monroe were aghast at this, but his actions were defended by the Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, who would later be involved more directly with Jackson.

Jackson became a war hero in the Battle of New Orleans when he defeated the British with a very small loss of his own men. Unfortunately, the peace treaty ending the War of 1812 had been signed a few days earlier. But this victory raised Jackson stature in the public eye.

When he first ran for the Presidency in 1824 it was against three other candidates, including John Quincy Adams, his old defender. Jackson won the popular vote, but not a majority of the electoral vote, and so the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. One of the candidates, Henry Clay, threw his votes to Adams, who thus won the election. Later, Adams appointed Clay to be his Secretary of State, and Jackson charged a “corrupt bargain” had occurred between the two men. Clay was probably the best choice for Secretary of State, but Adams’ appointment of him was tone deaf.  Jackson began campaigning for the 1828 election then, and Adams was unable to pass any meaningful legislation because of all the controversy. As result, John Quincy Adams, who has recently been estimated to have the highest IQ of any President, was not able to accomplish anything in his four years in office.

The campaign between Jackson and Adams was marked by several lurid charges that may very well be beyond the pale today. Jackson charged that Adams was a pimp, and Adams charged the Jackson was a bigamist. Adams may have arranged some dates for Russians when he was a minister to Moscow, and Jackson thought his wife was divorced (she did also) when he married her.

Jackson won the election in 1828, and people began to call him King Andrew. Many people were opposed to his Presidency, and those who were against him formed a new political party called the Whigs. At his inauguration many people crushed into the White House, common people who he was supposedly a representative of, and trashed the place, leading to upset among the good people of Washington.

Jackson hated paper money; he was proud that he carried gold and silver dust in a leather pouch that he could use to pay for things, that he thought was real money. He hated the Bank of the United States, an idea of the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and his battles with the BUS president Nicholas Biddle led the way to the Panic of 1837.  I’m sure Jackson would be most upset to find that his portrait is now on paper money — the Twenty Dollar bill.

When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee Indians of Georgia when the white settles wanted to take their land, Jackson essentially told the Supreme Court to “stuff it” and the Cherokees were overwhelmed. His solution to the Indian problem resulted in the Trail of Tears and similar excursions that sent Native Americans thousands of miles and killed many (see Jacksonland by NPR host Steve Inskeep).

But Jackson was a break from the “Virginia Dynasty” that had controlled the Presidency up until that time. All the previous presidents had been from Virginia if their name wasn’t Adams, and all had been Founding Fathers or their relatives.  Jackson was so important to setting a changed tone to the country that his period is called the Age of Jackson. He is celebrated annually by the Democratic party as one of their founders (along with Jefferson) but it was really his second Vice President, Martin Van Buren, who laid the foundation for the modern Democratic Party.

Andrew Jackson has been a popular subject for biographers, with many people writing about him such as Jon Meacham, H. W. Brands, and of course Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. The standard biography of Jackson is the three volume set by Robert V. Remini, which is also available in a condensed one volume.

Andrew Jackson

Here is a chart for Andrew Jackson.  Remember that birth times for Presidents born in the Eighteenth Century are necessarily suspect. His was a Full Moon birth, and in this chart he has Pluto at his Midheaven and Uranus at his Ascendant. Both planets were unknown at the time of his birth, Uranus being discovered a few years later. As we’ve explored often, the combination of Pluto and Uranus shakes things up.  Also of note is his Venus square Pluto — intense love.  He took offense at anyone who would say bad things about his wife Rachael, and even fought a duel over this.  He was crushed when she died right after his election in 1828.

One way of determining who will be president among the two candidates is to look at transits to their chart right after the election. Look for hard transits of Saturn to Sun or Moon. This indicates the responsibly that comes upon a person when they assume the role of President. It could also indicate the despondency they have after losing the presidency.

Here are three charts for Donald Trump right after the election of November 8, 2016. We see that Saturn is near his Moon and thus opposite his Sun shortly after the election on December 30, and it stays close until it turns retrograde and then approaches his Moon once again on April 23, 2017; it then turns retrograde directly on top of his Moon in August and moves away. The whole process takes many months in 2017; either Trump is very despondent at losing the election or it takes him most of the year to learn the responsibilities that come with being president.

Another relevant question is how often has a candidate replaced a two term candidate of the same party if he were not a Vice President who was put into office by the death of the President before him. For the Republicans this happened last when George H. W. Bush replaced Ronald Reagan, who then served one term. The other time was in 1876 when Rutherford Hayes succeeded two term Ulysses Grant.  That election was so marked with irregularities that it made the 2000 Bush v Gore contest seem non-controversial.  For the “Democrats” this happened three times: first when James Madison replaced two terms of Thomas Jefferson in 1808, then when James Monroe replaced two terms of James Madison in 1816 – he also served two terms; and finally when he was succeeded by John Quincy Adams. But all these men were running under a party that is called Democratic-Republican; the real Democratic Party was started by Andrew Jackson, who ran against Adams twice. For the new Democratic party, the only time this happened was when Martin Van Buren (the first non-English background President) succeeded Andrew Jackson.