Power of Astrology

The Return of a Rhetorical Presidency

Mundane events are revealing ever more clearly that the victorious campaign and election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America in 2016 has been a major turning point for US and world history. The results are showing up everywhere, in the political thinking and policy dialogue in the USA and in dramatic changes in foreign relations around the world, most visibly at the present time in the first steps of a return to peaceful relations on the Korean peninsula.

What should be even more astounding is that this change was predicted in numerous articles on this blog beginning ten years ago this month. The predictions were based on a shift in April 2016, from a sequence of long standing Vimsottari Dasa planetary periods of weak and afflicted planets (Ketu and Venus) to strong and influential planets (Sun, Moon and Mars) in the then newly discovered SAMVA USA chart, as well as the accurate Systems' Approach to Interpreting Horoscopes.

In the article From Gilded Age to Progressive Era on this blog on November 18, 2009, the following prediction was made:

We can see that the Gilded Age was replaced by a much more confident and progressive era in US national and political life. This is consistent with the major planetary periods of the time. The national life in the USA since the 1980s has been characterised by great economic progress, with notable advances in communications infrastructure. However, imbalances, financial panics and social tensions have also been there. The forthcoming periods of the Sun (April 2016 - April 2022), Moon (- April 2032) and Mars (- April 2039) indicate that the US will experience a return to considerable progress in the national life during these periods, associated with policies that lead to a reduction in tensions over inequality or injustices, consistent with earlier such periods in the national life.

The election of Donald Trump was also accurately predicted by the late Indian author and astrologer V. K. Chouhdry on October 2015, based on Trump's 6° Leo rising horoscope and the Systems' Approach analysis. The unique nature of the 2016 election as a "realigning election" was also clearly identified in January 2015 (see comment), well before Donald Trump announced his candidacy in mid June 2015. Such is the power of astrology.

From Progressive Era I to Progressive Era II
In this article, let´s review the similarity of the Sun periods in SAMAVA USA chart, in terms of the views of historians about the first Progressive Era (1896-1919) and how President Trump's policies (2016-) are in alignment with progressive reforms. What they have in common is reforms aimed at making society more just and vigorous. This idea is well encapsulated in the phrase "from poverty to prosperity", which was made by President Trump at a rally in Michigan yesterday. Like Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft before him, President Trump is proving to be a "rhetorical President". This is testament is to the role of a strong leader, especially in the Sun period. 

In an academic paper in 2011 at Harvard University's Center for the Study of the Presidency, Robert Saldin identified William McKinley, who was President from 1896 to his death in 1901, with the active use of "rhetoric" to persuade the public of progressive policies. Indeed, he is now recognised as the "America's first Progressive President". Trump has clearly revitalised that tradition.

The rise of the “rhetorical presidency” in the early 1900s is widely seen as a pivotal development of that office. According to the original rhetorical presidency theory, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson diverged from the traditional mode of presidential leadership and guided the institution in a starkly different, more visible, and popular direction rooted in public speaking. While Roosevelt and Wilson are certainly worthy of the attention they have received in transforming the office, William McKinley’s status as a key player in the development of the rhetorical presidency has been overlooked. 

Powerful public response

While the country is rife with conflict, due to the transit of 8th lord Saturn in the 6th house of conflict, Trump's supporters are appreciative of him. At the rally yesterday, the crowd shouted "We love you, Trump", again and again (go to hour and minute 1:23:00 in the youtube video of the speech). Such public adulation is highly unusual in American politics. 

This is also explained by the favourable transits in the SAMVA USA chart, including the transit of 4th lord Venus in exaltation at 10° Taurus and the 11th house in opposition aspect to natal 10th lord Mars at 10° Scorpio (its own non-MT sign) and the 5th house, as well as the transit of 2nd lord Sun in exaltation at 14° Aries and the most effective point of the 10th house, in applying conjunction with the sub-period lord Rahu at 18° Aries (and thus not close enough to reduce the strength of the Sun, to the temporary detriment of its indications, including the leader of the country).

Conclusion

The history of people, nations and the world moves forward along a karmic path. There are valleys and peaks. This karma is visible through the power of astrology, to help people prepare their lives for greater stability and spiritual progress. The USA is currently in an upswing, according to the major periods in the SAMVA USA chart, which will last for a couple of decades. However, we also have to contend with the transits of slow moving planets, and in the USA case, the transit of Saturn in the sign of Sagittarius (January 2017-January 2020) is proving difficult, but it will turn more so next year, when Saturn and Ketu become conjunct at 24° Sagittarius, when also the Sun-Saturn period will have commenced. At that time, some calamity is likely to befall the country, as well as other countries, and as predicted first in 2012.  Let's hope for the best. God bless the great people of the United States of America.