(2 July 2024) Things continue to unravel for US President Joe Biden following last week’s disastrous debate with Donald Trump. Despite some predictable pushback from the White House over the weekend, there are more calls from both the media and his own party for him to step aside. Today, Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett urged Biden to make room for “a new generation of leaders”, while longtime SC ally Rep. Jim Clyburn said he would support Kamala Harris if Biden decided not to run for re-election. The mostly pro-Democrat mainstream media (CNN, NYT, WaPo) is still maintaining their skeptical stance towards Biden as more of their pundits are making the case that Biden should leave the race for the good of his party and the country. Polls done shortly after the debate show Biden falling further behind Trump.
How much longer can Biden hang on? There are a couple of transit set ups that suggest he could withdraw soon. First, we can see that Mars will exactly oppose his natal Mercury next Tuesday, July 9. Therefore, early next week could be a time of significant conflict and frustration. Perhaps this is when Biden’s key advisors and Senate leaders finally tell him to leave. Whatever his personal desire to continue, it will be difficult for him to stand up a unified front consisting of Schumer, Pelosi and Obama, and other political allies. In addition, Jupiter is approaching its conjunction with Saturn at 16 Taurus. While Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions are often constructive, this one is suspect since Jupiter will be aligned with Ketu (South Lunar Node). Thus the disruptive energies of Ketu and Jupiter could serve to undermine Biden’s Saturn (tradition, order, obligation). Of course, Saturn remains closely opposite Biden’s 10th house cusp (MC/Midheaven) and underscores the current crisis as Saturn slowly erodes his status and career.
The next troublesome transit set up is in early August as Mars conjoins Biden’s natal Saturn. Mars conjoins Saturn at 16 Taurus on Aug 5 indicating a time of intense energy and hard work. And with the Ketu-Saturn alignment still within range, the more negative side of the Mars-Saturn conjunction is more likely to manifest. Biden may be more likely to suffer setbacks and failure at this time. Interestingly, Mercury is due to turn retrograde the day before (Aug 4) in the 10th house, exactly square to his Ascendant. Could this symbolize a reversal of fortunes related to job and status?
We can see this episode play out in Jill Biden’s chart also. As it happens, the president’s wife is also suffering the effects of the Saturn retrograde station at 25 Aquarius since it is exactly square her Ascendant at 26 Scorpio. Saturn-Ascendant alignments usually coincide with negative or unwanted developments associated with loss and disappointment. Jill Biden may also feel the sting of Mars early next week since Mars will conjoin her Mercury at 28 Aries. When other chart factors are favourable, Mars-Mercury conjunctions can represent times of intense energy and effective communication. But a positive outcome seems less likely here since the rest of the chart looks quite afflicted. Mars could symbolize conflict and frustration relating to income, since Mercury rules Virgo which is placed in her 11th house of gains and income. The Ketu-Jupiter alignment is also in focus as Jupiter conjoins her natal Mars at 16 Taurus. Taurus is the sign in her 7th house of marriage and may reflect ongoing stresses associated with her husband. Jupiter to Mars aspects can often be very good but the inclusion of Ketu here introduces an element of disruption.
Interestingly, the early August transit set up is also duplicated in Jill Biden’s chart. Mars will conjunct her natal Mars on Aug 4-5, while still receiving the problematic aspect from Ketu. This is not a good pattern to have and suggests more bad news will be coming her way. If Joe Biden is still in the race by early August, this Mars-Mars-Ketu alignment could be tip the balance against them. While it’s hard to know exactly what it could represent, one possibility would be that Biden is forced out despite her wishes to the contrary. Since Jill Biden has been widely rumoured to have been shielding her husband from closer scrutiny for a while now, this could be the time when the game is finally up. It could be quite a dramatic end since the Democratic convention is set to take place just two weeks later on Aug 18-22. And open convention seems like a distinct possibility.
While Kamala Harris is doing better in most political betting markets this week as she has pulled ahead of Gavin Newsom, I still think her chart is not strong enough to win the nomination. I hope to look at her horoscope in some detail later this week.
