Analysis
We'll begin
this analysis by looking at the Sun signs:
Gemini-Scorpio. An image selected from my book, Sign-to-Sign
Dynamics is a pool protected from the wind by a broken
shelter. This image conveys the water/Scorpio's
powerlessness to contain the restless air (Gemini).
Such was the Bolton-Trump relationship. Independent of
any political assessment of Mr. Trump, as a person it can be
said that we can expect him to manifest various traits
associated with the astrological symbol set tending toward
the extreme, often the dysfunctional or problematic
extreme. With his Gemini Sun, we would expect that a
core value or source of identity would be a need for freedom
and a need to express this freedom. However, we can
see in Donald Trump that the Gemini urge for complete
freedom to experience the world manifested as extreme
fickleness and an inability to commit. Those who have
read Bolton's book will recognize that this was an issue
constantly confronted by John Bolton as he tried to steer
the President toward a consistent foreign policy.
Trump could not be relied upon to maintain a position from
one day to the next. He seemed to turn on a whim and
any profession of commitment to follow a certain course was
inevitably followed by a withdrawal of that
commitment. This is the puer aeternis quality of the
Gemini Twins in spades. Bolton found himself powerless
against Trump's obsessive need to demonstrate his complete
independence and freedom from control—after all, Trump was
the President, the one in the relationship who possessed
absolute authority.
We see this theme of power being confronted by freedom in
the two ruling planets—Pluto
and Mercury. Of course, Pluto is all about power (in
manifold dimensions). Mercury, though mostly
associated with the intellect and communication, can be seen
to have a strong association with freedom. To begin
with, both the intellect and communication need to be able
to operate in a relatively free environment in order to be
most effective. Mercury's speed conveys a sense of
freedom and the Mercurial tendency to go anywhere at any
time also ties the planet to the idea of freedom.
The two glyphs, the Twins (Castor and Pollux) and Bolton's
Scorpio acting at the level of the Eagle also convey this
dynamic. Castor and Pollux were notoriously arbitrary,
carefree and fun-loving. The Eagle symbolizes
the empowered Scorpio.
Though empowered and used to exercising power, Bolton found
himself with Trump absent of the levers and switches with
which he commonly would be able to influence people and
events—an archtypally quincunxian
situation. In a more fruitful relationship
between Scorpio and Gemini, the Scorpio Eagle would
empower Gemini's freedom. However, absent an
out-of-sign trine and with Trump's dysfunctional
psyche, we find Trump constitutionally unable to make
good use of Bolton's capabilities to employ power
because his need for freedom (fickleness and
arbitrariness) fed by his need for attention and
dominance (Mars-Ascendant in Leo sextile Sun) gets in
the way. Though never consciously expressed, we
can intimate that Bolton's strong Scorpio energy
probably triggered Trump to all the more assert his
own power by acting out the Gemini drive for freedom
in the most arbitrary and capricious ways. For
his part, Bolton was well aware of the conundrum in
which he found himself, quoting John Foster Dulles'
recognition that power ultimately resided in the
Presidency more than once in his book. In the
end, unable to resolve the quincunxian crisis between
the two positively, Bolton separates from Trump.
Looking at the Moon we have Bolton's Cancer and
Trump's Sagittarius Moon. We do not know if the
Moons are in aspect but a quincunx is possible if
Bolton was born late at night. Although the
primary dynamic between the two indicated by
this configuration is nowhere hinted at in my
Sign-to-Sign Dynamic explanation of
Cancer-Sagittarius, this just goes to show the
multivalent nature of the astrological symbol set (and
the impossibility of anticipating every type of
interaction). With the Moon involved, we can
look to how attachment is expressed through the two
signs. The linkage of the Moon with comfort
level, conditioning rooted in the subconscious and
other associations with attachment is emphasized for
Trump with his Moon conjunct the South Node (with the
South Node's association with predilection and karmic
influence).
We see in Donald Trump a strong attachment to the
Sagittarian style of self-aggrandizement and
self-importance. Bluster, exaggeration,
boastfulness—all
in the service of magnifying the ego
—are hallmarks of the insecure
Sagittarius energy. We see in Trump an almost
instinctual gravitation to those Sagittarian
qualities. His primal need (another Moon function) is
that he appear as the biggest, most important personage in
the figurative room. Manifesting another Sagittarian
fault is his firm belief that he is always right. In
fact, he is unable to tolerate the idea that he could be
wrong (such an admittance is totally beyond his comfort
level). He is completely comfortable with all of these
Sagittarian foibles, these qualities being his nature (Moon)
and inherent (South Node) in his make-up.
One way in which Bolton's Cancer Moon manifests is his deep
attachment to homeland. I don't know whether on a
personal level John Bolton would be considered a strong
"family man" but in his public life he has thoroughly
attached himself to the concept of the national homeland and
the Americans as a great people. This is the extension
of the Moon's typical association with family and domestic
home life into the public arena. Concomitant with this
attachment is the desire to protect and defend the
homeland. Bolton built his career on this driving
force.
In Trump, Bolton saw an opportunity to use the power of the
Presidency to expand American influence abroad and to
protect America from its natural international
enemies. In other words, astrologically, Bolton was
attempting to integrate Trump's Sagittarian inclinations
(Trump, too, wanted to make America great) with his own
Cancer needs. This was the motivation for Bolton to
join the Trump administration. Bolton knew beforehand
that Trump had dysfunctional qualities—although he didn't
realize the extent of this until he became National Security
Advisor. However, he believed that he could harness
Trump's power and direct it toward his own objectives (which
he believed were consistent with the President's
views). This attempt at quincunxian integration
failed, however, because of the intransigence of Trump's
dysfuntionality. In other words, while Bolton wanted
to direct foreign policy in ways that supported his Cancer
Moon needs (projected onto the international stage), all
Trump wanted to do was to aggrandize his ego in any way
possible. The two primal needs could not successfully
connect--in fact, Bolton's initiatives were consistently
endangered or thwarted by Trump's Sagittarius Moon behavior.
There is another Cancer-Sagittarius dynamic associated with
their ruling planets that manifested in the Bolton-Trump
relationship. This has to do with the primary
character of "motion" associated with the two planets.
For Jupiter, motion is expansive; for the Moon, motion is
rhythmic and regular. In Bolton, this Cancerian
regularity manifested in a penchant for process. While
Bolton never let process become an objective in itself, he
was insistent that process and procedure be followed
thoroughly. In fact, he saw proper process as
fundamental to reaching valid conclusions and, therefore,
essential to the work of the National Security Agency.
Trump, however, had absolutely no regard for process.
He knew with certainty in his gut (Sagittarius Moon) what he
wanted—at least in the Gemini moment—and just wanted it
done. Ever ready to move on to the next thing, he had
no patience for process. In fact, with so many things
out there, and with his Gemini Sun contributing, Trump had
almost zero attention span. And, of course, what would
grab his attention was anything that was bigger, greater,
more powerful and important, especially if it could be
connected with inflating his ego.
In quincunxian fashion, these unlikely and incompatible
natures were thrown together and forced to interact with
each other. However, on fundamental levels, they could
not connect. Sagittarius being the more dominant
energy and Trump holding the power of the Presidency, it was
inevitably Bolton's aims that were frustrated and his
attachments and expectations disappointed. Failing to
be able to harness Trump's wild and unbridled Sagittarian
nature, the relationship ultimately fell apart.
We can now look at the close aspects that Donald Trump and
John Bolton share. First, we'll examine Bolton's
Sun-conjunct-Chiron square Trump's Leo Ascendant. An
image associated with this sign combination is a flame
thrower battling a water cannon. This speaks to issues
and conflicts over power and control. Integral to both
is the idea of security. Leo derives its security from
the approval of others; Scorpio derives its security from
their ability to self-control, as well as to control
others. With his Ascendant in Leo, we can see how
Trump processes his world in terms of the strokes and
validation he receives from others. Because of his
deep insecurities, this need to filter everything through
how he is being perceived and to project himself in a way
that maximizes the potential to receive positive feedback
from others (especially about his own importance, greatness
and power) has become obsessive.
Bolton's career trajectory demonstrates his need to exert
power and influence. He is also known to be very
disciplined, denoting a high degree of self-control.
These qualities are fundamental to his identity (Sun).
Yet, with Sun conjunct Chiron we can speculate that
this drive for power has been motivated by some hidden
psychological or emotional wounding. As National
Security Advisor to Trump, these two needs—for recognition
and appreciation (Trump) and for the exercise of power and
control (Bolton)—came into conflict. Perforce, both by
the nature of his position with respect to Trump's and by
the nature of Scorpio, Bolton's exercise of power needed to
be undertaken indirectly and through manipulation (not here
used pejoratively). However, Bolton's attempts were
continuously thwarted by the playing out of Trump's
insecurities. Time and time again, Trump would refuse
to follow Bolton's directives, often in Gemini fashion
changing course at the last minute. Most of the time
it was because Trump perceived that taking the alternative
course would gain him approval, even if the approval was
only temporary.
Besides placing his own personal satisfaction above all
else, Trump reacted to Bolton's attempts to exercise power
by refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of Bolton's
power. It was as if Trump felt compelled to let it be
known that it was he who was in charge. Bolton
suffered frequent put-downs at the hands of Trump, mostly
what have come to be called micro-aggressions. This
undoubtedly poked at Bolton's Chironic wounding but most of
the time he put his objective before personal pique and took
Trump's bullying in stride. There were a few times,
however, when his confrontations with Trump would turn
incendiary. Other images associated with Leo-Scorpio
are a fire causing a pot to boil over and a castle
surrounded by a moat coming under fire. Both are
apropos to the Trump-Bolton relationship.
Next we come to Donald Trump's Gemini Sun trine Bolton's
Libra Venus. Though, with the tight trine, we should
expect the dynamics between the two to be harmonious (in
relation to Trump's identity function and Bolton's
relational/evaluative function), the dysfunctional
expression of the potentialities symbolized by the
astrological symbol set that Trump manifests can create
ripples of discord even with this "easy" aspect. One
thing to remember is that the primary dynamic signified by
the trine is an easy and comfortable flow of energy between
the planets involved. If one of the natives is
manifesting "bad energy," that is what will come through in
the flow of the trine.
One image connected with Gemini-Libra is that of a fickle
and a constant wind. We have already noted Trump's
predilection for frequent and capricious changes in
course. This behavior can be assigned to his being in
constant reactive mode, reacting primarily to whatever he
thinks will be to his benefit or provide him with
ego-strokes (frequently with little distinction between the
two). This often involves seeking to please (and,
thus, gain the approval of) people whom he considers to be
influencers or people (and groups) that he wishes to retain
on "his side." His Gemini Sun provides no anchor to
hold him against whatever prevailing winds are blowing and,
therefore, he exhibits extreme Mutability.
The constant wind identified with Bolton's Venus can be seen
in his commitment to fairness and justice in his
relationships and in his ability to evaluate a situation
coolly from both sides of the matter, holding things in
balance before making a decision. Even if Bolton
considered someone a fool—and his
Scorpio Sun and Mercury certainly provided him with the
facility to quickly and insightfully take the measure of a
person—he generally treated them with
respect and civility. These attributes were an asset
in dealing with the President. First, while not
always successful, he was nearly always able to counter
Trump's whims by either convincing him to get back on
course or by taking corrective action and damage
control. Someone who was less balanced, less of a
"constant wind" might find themself repeatedly
destabilized by Trump's "fickle wind." This,
ultimately, was of benefit to Trump, as well, for Bolton
was often able to keep him from making serious and foolish
mistakes. Secondly, though Bolton quickly saw right
through Donald Trump, he was able to maintain a respectful
and professional relationship with the President.
Sinking into an attitude of disdain would have been
dangerous both because it would have clouded Bolton's
judgment and because Trump would have reacted vindictively
upon perceiving it.
Another characteristic of the Trump-Bolton relationship
that their Sun-Venus trine suggests is that the two tended
to like each other. There was certainly much common
ground ideologically between them. Trump not rarely
expressed to others that he liked John and if there had
not been at least some fondness for Trump on Bolton's part
it is inconceivable that the latter could have put up with
Trump's "fickle wind."
Mars is also in trine for Donald Trump and John Bolton,
further suggesting a sort of camaraderie between the two,
particularly at the masculine level. Both men
exhibit strong aggressiveness or competitiveness
bespeaking a Fire sign (especially fiery with Mars), but
in different ways. Trumps' Mars is in Leo while Bolton's
is in Sagittarius. Trump is more concerned with
showing his power and masculinity (his aversion to showing
weakness fits the dominant masculine paradigm that men
should be strong). Bolton can often seem heated and
even incendiary at times, but his display of masculine
strength is bent on conquest to advance his strong beliefs
and worldview.
Images that can be associated with Leo-Sagittarius include
a king riding his galloping steed and an adventurer or
conquistador in a royal court. Both resonate with
the Trump-Bolton relationship. Trump saw in John
Bolton someone who would be useful in advancing his own
"America First" agenda—a perspective that both men shared.
Bolton would be the one to carry Trump's instinctive
approach to foreign policy forward onto the world
stage. Yet, the rider is not always in control
of a spirited steed even if they appear to be.
Such a horse may have a mind of their own and try to
take their rider in unexpected directions. Like
a horse carrying a less than supremely skilled rider,
Bolton, whenever he could, would attempt to guide
Trump to take foreign policy decisions that advanced
Bolton's own agenda. The fact that their
agenda's often led to similar outcomes, suggested by
the trine, made this relatively easy for Bolton.
Nevertheless, other factors in their charts point to
disruption and sometimes conflict. In terms of
our metaphor, this Leo rider would frequently get
distracted from the task of proper ridership in which
case the horse would need to exert more control.
The second image also fits the Bolton-Trump
relationship, for Bolton's primary interest in Trump
was because of his position, controlling the resources
(the executive power of the Presidency) that Bolton
needed in order to "conquer the world" for his
homeland. It was Trump who could bless or kibosh
Bolton's propositions. It was Trump to whom
Bolton needed to constantly supplicate for a positive
decision to implement his plans. The trine,
however, indicates that this arrangement had positive
features for both men. Trump certainly enjoyed
playing the role of the king, able to dispense the largess of his
approval of
Bolton's petitions. Bolton gained what he
needed, access to the power of the Presidency to
influence the foreign policy of the United
States. The fact that both men were generally on
the same page (except when Trump's personal needs
interfered) contributed to the smooth and usually
congenial working of this arrangement.
We return to the predominant theme of the quincunx energy
in this relationship with the tight quincunx between
Donald Trump's Cancer Venus and John Bolton's Sagittarius
Mars. Here, it is instructive to look at the glyphs
of the signs—the Crab and the
Centaur. The Crab is a denizen of low-lying
places, a burrower in the sands. The Sagittarian
Centaur takes aim at the skies. Thus, their
worlds are "inconjunct."
Donald Trump's Venus is in a close conjunction with
Saturn, which typically signals difficulties with
relationships based in a fundamental insecurity.
This has manifested in Trump's psyche as a deep need
to receive nurturing from others. The Crab also
seeks security and Venus' placement in Cancer only
emphasizes the need to obtain emotional security
through relationships with others. Trump's Venus
is semi-sextile his Leo Mars and the connection here
may be that his attachment to dominating masculinity
prevents him from accepting authentic nurturing.
Instead, this neediness for nurture has manifested as
seeking security and validation by receiving constant
flattery (a perverse form of being nurtured).
We can see in Bolton's Sagittarius Mars an entirely
different emphasis and need—the drive to execute an
expansive foreign policy based on his
geo-political worldview. We also know that
Bolton's actions (at least in the public arena)
are always guided by an over-arching concept of
how the world operates and a grand strategic
plan. Significantly, the Cancer
Venus-Sagittarius Mars quincunx is echoed in the
Trump-Bolton chart with Bolton's Mars being
conjunct Trump's Moon (though not in close enough
orb to be considered a tight aspect). This
suggests not only the importance of this quincunx,
but also that it activates in some way the inner
tensions of the Sagittarius energy of Trump's
Venus depositor mixing with the Cancer energy of
Venus' placement. We can perhaps see this in
Trump's need for flattery being focused on others
validating is "greatness" in expansive ways.
We can speculate that perhaps Trump saw in John
Bolton a vehicle through which his own image could
be enhanced. However, this was not Bolton's
concern and, if he did enhance Trump's image, it
was purely accidental.
Instead, Bolton found his own plans and schemes
for expanding U.S. power and influence in the
world consistently frustrated by Trump's need for
validation from others who—in
this circumstance—just
happened to be world leaders. Most
leaders, especially the more astute, quickly
determined that Trump could be played like a
fiddle with a little flattery. Bolton
was keenly aware of this and keenly aware of
the danger this posed to his own
designs. This kept Bolton continually on
the edge of crisis with Trump, particularly
when Trump would be interacting with other
world leaders. Often, crisis erupted.
Next we'll look at the square between Donald
Trump's Cancer Saturn and Bolton's Libra
Venus.
We've already explored the somewhat mixed bag of the trine
between Bolton's Venus and Trump's Sun. Also, we've
noted that Trump's Saturn is conjunct his Venus and we've
discussed his Venus quincunx with Bolton's Mars.
Saturn's orb to the quincunx is 1 degree 31 minutes, which
is a little wide and the Venus-Mars contact is partile
within half a degree, so we've given Venus prominence
there. Here, too, we'll divert from the
interpretations of Cancer-Libra in my book, as the
Trump-Bolton relationship highlights other potential
dynamics between the two signs. We first note, though,
the synergy of Venus being both "afflicted" by its
conjunction with Saturn in Trump's chart and challenged in
Bolton's chart by the square to Trump's Saturn. Or,
might it be the other way around? For Saturn
symbolizes some deep relationship insecurity for Trump—one
explanation definitely for his need to be stroked in order
to provide assurance that he is being liked. Bolton,
on the other hand, as a quasi-diplomat (a great calling for
someone with Venus in Libra), is a self-assured and
consummate relationship builder (even if he may sometimes
come on a little too strong with his Sagittarius Mars having
lots of sextile opportunity to come through his Venus
relationships). This was likely intimidating to Trump
(though Trump never admits intimidation even to himself,
being confronted by someone with polished relationship
skills has got to push his relationship insecurity buttons).
Now let's turn to Cancer-Libra dynamics. Cancer is an
intensely personal sign and, so, this signals that Trump
would feel his insecurities on a highly personal
level. Thus, to salve his unacknowledged sense of
inadequacy, everything becomes personal. He needs to
deal with things on a personal level and reacts personally
to anything that triggers his insecurities. Libra, on
the other hand, while focused on personal relationships,
tends to handle them not from a personal perspective.
For Libra, it is generally about the other person, not about
oneself. Bolton's skills are in forming allegiances
and building consensus (though admittedly consensus among
relatively like-minded people, politically). To the
extent that Libra's concern is with other people, it is not
coming from a place of intense personal motivation, compared
to Cancer. Of course, Libra is capable of turning
their attention to Cancer's needs, and Bolton had the
interpersonal skills to massage Trump's ego and present
issues to coincide with Trump's personal interests.
However, Trump's insecurities were so deep and his focus on
the personal was so intent that it frequently got in the way
of the diplomacy that Bolton was trying to pursue. For
his part, Trump couldn't care less about building diplomatic
bridges, unless he could see a benefit for himself.
While we don't see Trump becoming angry with Bolton over his
efforts, he certainly could be dismissive.
Another characteristic of Cancer, particularly in
dysfunctional mode, is being reactionary. Trump's
behavior was extremely reactionary. His primary
modality was to be driven by reactionary impulse, over which
he had almost no control. Libra, on the other hand,
ruled by ever-evaluating Venus, can be quite
deliberate. True, an insecure Libra will react to
whatever cues they are receiving from others pertaining to
how they are being received. Bolton did not suffer
from this, however. We can see conflicting natures at
work in the Trump-Bolton relationship. Exacerbating
the tension was the fact that both by position (as
President) and nature (his Leo Mars and Ascendant), Trump
wielded authority (Saturn)—and he
wielded it most often in a reactionary
manner. Bolton suffered because of
this. It constantly disrupted his
equilibrium (Libra). Mostly, though,
Bolton had to witness decisions being made based
on personal emotion, reacting to whatever was
the trigger of the moment, rather than on his
preferred mode of careful and balanced
evaluation (Venus in Libra).
Finally, we have the yadh created between
Bolton's Venus-sextile-Mars both quincunxing
Trump's Midheaven. This brings together
Taurus and Libra and Taurus and
Sagittarius. We can begin, though, by
looking at the aspect itself. The "finger
of God" is pointing to Trump's Midheaven,
indicating that it is this which is most in need
of purification and transformation. We can
see how the Taurus Midheaven has manifested in
Trump's life and career. His need for
material security has driven him to fully adopt
the collective super-ego's definition of success
as the accumulation of wealth. Possession,
whether of money, material objects,
relationships or status, dominates Donald
Trump's concept of what it means to be
successful. We can then hypothesize, based
on the yadh, that what Bolton brings to this
situation is an opportunity, or a necessity, to
grow out of this construct and redefine success
by embracing a different set of values. We
can see this opportunity for redefinition
present in Trump's signature slogan, "Make
America Great Again." The transformative
question was: could Donald Trump overcome his
fixation on personal accumulation (not just of
wealth but of power and status) by
truly placing the nation first? Because John Bolton's
driving ideology in foreign affairs was "America First,"
Bolton's tenure as National Security Advisor in a certain
way forced this issue.
Bolton, for his part, didn't particularly care about Donald
Trump's personal success (the quincunxian disconnect between
Bolton and Trump). However, his own goals were
inextricably tied to Trump's ability to actualize his Taurus
Midheaven through a quincunxian transformation.
Bolton's goals were achieving "fairness and balance" through
diplomacy (Venus in Libra)—which
in his mind meant the U.S. being treated fairly on the world
stage (with the respect due to a great nation) and holding
the balance of power—and
promoting his worldview of U.S. hegemony (Mars in
Sagittarius), which he saw in Sagittarian terms as
the natural and rightful position for a country
manifesting its greatness. We see, though, Trump's failure
to undergo the necessary transformation of his super-ego
drives creating repeated crises in the relationship between
John Bolton and Donald Trump.
We can now look at the sign relationships to tease out more
insights into this relationship. One key is to look at
the Taurus and Libra glyphs, the Bull and the Scale.
Crisis occurs when the Bull knocks over the Scale,
disrupting the Libra balance. Until this occurs,
Bolton is able to operate in parallel play with Trump's
achievement needs, cultivating the necessary relationships
and influencing diplomacy to work toward his own ends.
Then, along comes Donald Trump, prioritizing his own
personal power and status above the national interest and,
in the process, disrupting the balance that Bolton had
carefully crafted. This could be a learning experience
but Trump is oblivious that there is even a problem from
which a lesson could be derived.
This is also reflected in the signs' ruling planet,
Venus. Venus manifests in Taurus and Libra emphasizing
two different aspects of its association with
duality--evaluation and selection in Taurus, relationship
(self-other) in Libra. The two functions should
operate in harmony but can be disconnected in a Taurus-Libra
relationship. We see this here, with Trump repeatedly
valuing his own personal benefit and this causing crisis in
the management of world leader relationships that Bolton is
trying to affect.
One characteristic of the Taurus-Sagittarius relationship is
that Taurus, wrapped up in the personal, is called upon to
gain greater self-understanding and a better understanding
of the world around them. It is the latter that was
particularly necessary in the Trump-Bolton
relationship. This dynamic is also indicated when we
look at Venus and Jupiter, the ruling planets of the two
signs. When the functions symbolized by these planets
are disengaged, what may occur are a value system that is
not informed by a comprehensive understanding or worldview
(i.e., Trump's) and a value system (Trump's) and worldview
(Bolton's) that are inconsistent. Again, there were
times when parallel play was possible and Bolton could
direct policy exercising his global understanding and
implementing his worldview, while Trump occupied himself
with other matters. Crises occurred however, when a
decision from Donald Trump was necessary and, instead of
being guided by Bolton's systems approach taking the broad
view, Trump reverts to basing his decision on matters of
personal benefit, whether tangible or intangible.
This pattern also resonates to the Taurus-Sagittarius issue
of comfort versus risk. Evaluating matters from a
personal perspective is Trump's comfort zone. For him,
taking into consideration the larger perspective, matters of
true national interest, involved risk—the risk that he might
lose status or respect or that he might
fail. We saw on a number of important
occasions, when Bolton presented a course of
action that involved a certain amount of risk,
Trump—though he might be
attracted to it initially as a demonstration of
his strength and power—would back down and
retreat to the safe and secure position in the
end. This led, from Bolton's viewpoint, to a
number of missed opportunities. In many
respects, while Donald Trump may have achieved
success in his own eyes, and from the standpoint
of his personal benefit, there were many failures
in the foreign policy initiatives
in which Bolton was involved—at
least with respect to the goal of Making America
Great Again.
