Trump may be incapable of controlling his temper or curbing his pathological vengeful streak but there is some method in his madness. As one commentator remarked he is practising a pinball version of government – ‘multiple metal balls ricocheting in all directions, unleashed by an intemperate and gleeful player-in-chief, all accompanied by a non-stop cacophony of bells, klaxons and flashing lights.’ To him, all that matters is the racket and more importantly the distraction it causes.
His most significant mentor early on, whose playbook he clearly still follows, was Roy Cohn, a New York lawyer, whose ‘creed was to always be on the attack, to counterpunch whenever punched and to never apologize. Never, ever, ever apologize – even if you’re in the wrong, because your opponents will take a mile.’
They first came together in the early 1970s when Trump and his father were under a Justice Department investigation after allegations that their company had systematically discriminated against black people seeking housing. Cohn’s advice was to tell Justice Department to go to hell and fight back in court. So Donald and Fred countersued the federal government for $100 million. Ultimately, the Trumps settled without admitting guilt, which allowed them to declare victory.
Cohn was McCarthy’s chief counsel during the anti-Communist hearings, though he resigned in disgrace and went into private practice where he represented several mafia bosses and the Trumps, for whom he brokered the gargantuan tax abatements and the mob-tied concrete work that made the Grand Hyatt hotel and Trump Tower projects. He was charged three times in Federal investigations in the 1970s and 1980s with professional misconduct, including perjury and witness tampering, and was accused in New York of financial improprieties related to city contracts and private investments. He was acquitted of all charges. Eventually in 1986 he was disbarred for unethical and unprofessional conduct, including misappropriation of clients’ funds, lying on a bar application, and pressuring a client to amend his will. He died of AIDs, contracted it is thought through gay sex, despite having used homosexual allegations as a weapon to destroy careers during the McCarthy era.
And he survived as a mover and shaker in a highly dubious 40 year career before being nailed by the authorities. Outrageous brass neck gets you a long way. A technique his young pupil clearly took on board.
What is interesting is that Cohn, 20 Feb 1927, a slippery Sun Jupiter in Pisces had his heavyweight Mars in Taurus conjunct Trump’s MC – so his unyielding and combative determination (and greediness) would stiffen the young Trump’s backbone.
Trump’s MC at 24 Taurus is only one degree away from Algol, the planet of destruction, violence and mischief. The 17th century English astrologer William Lilly believed any planet to be afflicted when within five degrees of conjunction. One view is that Algol has a tendency to lie, and is less than honest in dealings with others. Algol is most associated with the myth of the snake-locked Medusa – one of whose habits was to (metaphorically) spit poison at anyone who faced her head on and paralyse them.
Evidently the right-wing conspiracy nutjobs who fed Trump the line about Obama wiretapping Trump Tower, have now ramped up their rhetoric to make Obama the chief bogeyman. On this logic, Trump now becomes the victim, his presidency under attack by a Machiavellian ‘deep state’ conspiracy. There’s always been a strand of paranoia more marked in the US than in most other western countries, encouraging such things as the growth of the anti-government militias. This present seriously scary mood does fit the pattern of the tr Uranus square the US Mercury opposition Pluto which kicks off in April, which historically has been associated with rabid right-wing hysteria. Mercury opposition Pluto in itself which is part of the US temperament is prone to fanaticism, and seeing dark intent, secrets and danger everywhere around. It has a tendency to paranoia and obsessiveness.
Trump’s 12th house Pluto undoubtedly taps into this. Scary and very disorientating when reality gets twisted.
He’s one pie in the face away from a complete meltdown. For the sake of all humanity, people, if you see anyone carrying a concealed cream pie within throwing distance of Trump, tackle them.