(25 January 2023)  Will US President Joe Biden run again in 2024?  Up until recently, it was widely assumed that the 80-year old commander-in-chief would seek a second term in next year’s election.  Despite weak approval numbers borne of overbearing governance and ongoing economic hardship, Biden was generally expected to be the Democrat nominee for president in 2024.

But the controversy following the discovery of several batches of classified documents in his private residence in Delaware has raised questions about his electability.  Even if this documents case may be seen as a minor case of bad judgment, what seems different this time around is that the mainstream media appear to be more critical of Biden’s actions. After enjoying a fairly easy ride from the left-leaning MSM in the past two years, the closer scrutiny on this issue raises the possibility that Biden may no longer be a lock on the nomination.  The classified documents scandal may well be a trial balloon in which the Democrats seek alternatives to Biden for the 2024 election.

Unfortunately for Biden, his horoscope will come under renewed pressure from Saturn in the coming months.  Readers will remember that for much of 2021 and 2022, Biden’s natal Mercury and Mars suffered under the full-strength square aspect from Saturn.  While the US succeeded in putting the pandemic behind it early in his administration, the ongoing Saturn affliction in Biden’s chart reflected the intractable political divisions in the country and the growing economic difficulties from surging inflation.

Now, Saturn (1 Aquarius) is forming yet another extended square aspect to no less than three key points in his chart — the Sun, Venus and the Ascendant.  The square aspect from Saturn will first exactly hit the Sun (4 Scorpio) on February 23, then hit Venus (5 Scorpio) on March 4, and then finally hit the Ascendant (10 Scorpio) on April 16 or so, assuming his time of birth is correct.  While these exact square aspects all lie in the near future, we should view Biden’s current problems in light of Saturn’s affliction since it is already well within effective range to these planets.  And the really bad news for Biden is that Saturn is due to station retrograde in June and will thus come back and almost exactly square those planets in the fall all over again.  In fact, those three points will not be free of the Saturn affliction until early 2024.

To make matters even worse, Biden started his Saturn major dasha period in September 2022.  As a rule, Saturn dasha periods tend to be more difficult than the preceding Jupiter dasha periods (2006-2022) and that is likely the case for Biden as he was both Vice-President and President while running the Jupiter major dasha period.  The likelihood of troubles and disappointment is even more likely for Biden since his Saturn (16 Taurus) is closely afflicted by the 8th house aspect of Mars (19 Scorpio) in his natal chart.  The wide oppositions from the Sun and Venus are somewhat helpful but do not negate the affliction from Mars, nor do they offset the natural malefic qualities of Saturn.   Interestingly, this document scandal emerged just as Mars (15 Taurus) stationed direct while conjunct his natal Saturn.

In terms of his re-election bid, we should pay special attention to the condition of the Sun, his 10th house ruler of status and career.  When that is afflicted by Saturn, Biden is more likely to suffer setbacks related to his status.  One possible date to keep in mind in that respect is the upcoming Sun-Saturn conjunction by transit at 3 Scorpio on February 16.  With Saturn just one degree from its exact square to the natal Sun, we could see increasingly pressure on Biden’s leadership.  It is even possible he could announce that may not seek the nomination for 2024, although that announcement could also occur later in the year as the Ascendant comes under the increasing affliction of Saturn.  April also looks especially vulnerable in this respect as Mars transits his equal 8th house cusp (obstacles, scandals) while Rahu conjoins his 6th house Moon symbolizing competitors. Even if Biden doesn’t pull out of the 2024 race at this time, other Democrats could declare their intention to contest the nomination.

Overall, 2023 is shaping up to be a very difficult year for President Biden.  With the heavy Saturn influence, it seems very possible that he will not seek a second term.

Weekly Market Forecast

Stocks have been choppy in recent days as investors await the Fed decision on February 1.  For their part, a fresh spate of corporate earnings have been fairly mixed so far with companies often meeting or beating consensus estimates but warning on guidance.  As expected, we saw some upside to start the week as the Sun aligned with bullish Jupiter.

While further gains cannot be ruled out in the coming days, the approach of the Saturn-Neptune-Pluto alignment in February suggests rallies may become more vulnerable to reversal.

For more details, check out my weekly subscriber newsletter which is published every Sunday.   In addition to reviewing the key planetary and technical influences on US and Indian stocks for the short and medium term, I also provide an astrological analysis of potential upcoming moves in currencies, gold and oil.

These updates are usually posted midweek.  You can be notified of new posts by following me on Twitter.