Bernie Sanders on Resisting Trump, Why the Democratic Party is an “Absolute Failure” & More
Last month more than 4,000 people gathered in Chicago for the People’s Summit. Independent senator, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivered the keynote speech. During his speech, he repeatedly criticized the Democratic Party, calling it an “absolute failure,” and blaming it for the election of Donald Trump. “I’m often asked by the media and others: How did it come about that Donald Trump, the most unpopular presidential candidate in the modern history of our country, won the election?” Sanders said. “And my answer is that Trump didn’t win the election; the Democratic Party lost the election. Let us be very, very clear: The current model and the current strategy of the Democratic Party is an absolute failure.”
Well observed, Bernie. But how come you didn’t become Hillary’s vice-president thereby guaranteeing a victory for the Democrats as I predicted in these columns?
Now your ego has plunged the world down the drain but, hey, that’s probably where it needs to be right now. Congratulations on fulfilling the planet’s destiny as another failed experiment for consciousness. Better luck next time, eh?
You think the DNC would have allowed that?
So they didn’t want to win the election, then?
The DNC are acting the same way towards Sanders as the Blairites have been to Corbyn. They won’t accept that a proper left alternative is the only way forward, because they don’t want to lose their gravy train – many are still enriching themselves off lobbying – including from healthcare companies. They won’t give up the corporatist line until they have no other option.
I don’t see how the gravy train can go on enriching them if they are not in power. What influence do they have and who would give them money if they have none?
There can be no doubt that Trump is running rings around the previously-held concepts of politics and fair play. The Democrats have missed a trick, and it seems to me that Sanders is still playing old politics.
America should follow Britain – get the young vote out. That’s where Sanders’ supporters are. Naturally progressive, always on the side of the down-trodden, concerned about the planet because they’re concerned about their own future. Fuck the billionaires, the future is with the fillionaires – the brotherly lovers.
Interestingly, the young did vote in droves and they voted for Trump! They are still defending him, but those young are predominantly white youth that feel disenfranchised, mostly males but some females. They are educated and uneducated, wealthy and not. I move among them, we all do in America and am astonished by them: their affirmation for Trump and his hate campaign against so many- the media, immigrants (legal and illegal), the afflicted. Trump supporters run in my family, are in my neighborhood, are everwhere I visit throughout the U.S. Their main moniker seems to be: “Cut the Bull shit, Take no Bull shit!” They view Trump as a genius that walks the talk, they have drunk the kool-aid. It is much more than the billionaires. Too many of our masses desire affluent rulers that somehow exhibit their own wealth to the rest of the world. If they can’t have it, at least let them have a ruler that has it to flaunt on their behalf (or so they blindly think). To anyone enlightened, it makes no sense but we are not speaking about the enlightened masses, we are talking about people with real problems that struggle in dealing with who they are, let alone who we are becoming.
Regarding Sanders, he has been consistent. From the time he was a mayor in Vermont forward, he has not changed, including his contempt for the Democratic Party, or the fact that America relies upon a two-party system to select its Presidential candidates and the vast majority of its elected officials. It was not envisioned by our forefathers but became a bi-product of our history and overtime has become so woven into the fabric of our government and institutions that any sort of unraveling couldn’t occur by threads, or by electing an Independent candidate as VP who had to run on a major party ticket just to get elected and who, by any right, could have been President. Instead, major overhauls will have to take place to the fabric itself, a cutting and re-sowing through the form of Constitutional Amendments that allowed for a stronger prominence of multiple parties: Independent, Libertarians and others. But then America would look like a Parliamentarian Democracy, something that has been unlikely in her taste but as extemes playout in the parties, maybe a new debate will become worthy to her people. Interesting thought as we celebrate this day of Independence.
Pisces Sun – Maybe it is a function of region? The reason I ask is because most of the young people around ‘here’ are definitely NOT for Trump. Only the ones with a substandard high school or GED education show any admiration for Trump at all. Our midwest, central and southern regions are places where density is at its greatest and people’s thinking patterns those of 50-100 years ago.
Thank you for setting me straight on the young vote in the US, Pisces Sun. I was basing my assertion on events here in Britain at the recent general election and on the old saying that “if you’re not a liberal at 20 then you have no heart, and if you’re not a conservative at 40 you have no brain.” Which, at 73, makes me a definite no-brainer.
I was preparing a longer response but it became bogged down in a comparison of our different political systems and I thought, ‘Hey! It’s Independence Day. There must be alien spaceships to shoot down.’ Hope you’re having a good one and are managing to avoid the worst of the trumpeting.
Note that a very large chunk of Trump supporters were evangelicals, and that would unfortunately include the younger members of those churches. The evangelical movement is very, very good at getting out the vote.
It’s certainly a very big difference between our two countries. American evangelical churches have made some inroads in the UK in the last dozen or so years but they’re still not high on most people’s radar despite infiltrating local communities like pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The only democratic answer that I can suggest is that young people should be made very aware of what is at stake, particularly for their long-term futures, and then encouraged to vote according to their conscience (or, more probably, the viewpoint held by their current favourite media star).
In a capitalist society it seems to me that politics mostly comes down to marketing, and you just have to be better at it than the other guy.
NEW! IMPROVED!! Planet Earth. You can’t live without it.
These comments show much thought regarding the present U.S. political situation but we are still (since the election) examining the pieces of the puzzle, the details of who did what, and why or why not things happened. Once we get further down the path we will see the “Trump victory” in a different context, and be more able to see it from an historical view. That’s where astrology can help.
Surprises, upsets, the unexpected; that’s the bailiwick of Uranus. Seeing things not as they really are is what Neptune is famous for, while Pluto gets the credit for destruction and disease. The centaurs, best understood among them being Chiron, Nessus and Pholus, draw attention to a situation that then leads to consciousness. That consciousness becomes the bridge between what Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are working on and what Saturn and Jupiter have created, often represented by social structures like governments and institutions like banking systems.
When any 2 of these planets named above make a conjunction it is the start of a cycle between them. Those cycles affect the world for the duration of time until the 2 planets involved meet again in a conjunction. Their various aspects to each other during those cycles, namely the squares, oppositions, trines and sextiles and sometimes even minor aspects too, are the strategic points with the most impact in their cycles. Thus when Uranus and Pluto began a cycle back in the 1960’s it was expected that when they made 7 squares to each other in 2012 through 2015 it would jolt the status quo (squares being what they are).
When the 1st of the 7 squares took place between transiting Uranus and Pluto, Uranus in Aries was sextile (compatible) to the U.S. natal Uranus in Gemini. Transiting Pluto in Capricorn was quincunx (adjustment required) with U.S. natal Uranus. Transiting Chiron in Pisces (30 degrees or so behind transiting Uranus and 60 degrees or so in front of transiting Pluto) had just made a square with the U.S. Uranus and would do so again later thanks to the retrograde he would soon be in.
If we were so inclined we could probably look back and see – by now – just how the U.S. Uranus in Gemini was affected by that sextile from transiting Uranus, that quincunx from transiting Pluto and that square from transiting Chiron. Chances are they were subtle enough changes that other transiting aspects took most the astrological credit for any activity coming from U.S. Uranus – in Gemini – in the U.S. natal (Sibly) 6th house. It might even have been about Obamacare.
Other cycles have had influence on the U.S. Uranus, most conspicuously the Pluto-Neptune conjunction that took place in 1891 when they were in the same degree as the U.S. natal Uranus, 8+ Gemini. My favorite cycle that has influenced U.S. Uranus is the Saturn-Neptune cycle that began in 1989 and the 1st of their 3 conjunctions had transiting Pholus (small cause, big effect) conjunct U.S. Uranus. It also had transiting Nessus conjunct U.S. Neptune in Virgo.
Not just these cycles but many, many cycles continue to affect the various planets and points in the U.S. natal chart, each carrying their own cycle’s vibes, every time a transiting planet aspects some planet/point in the individual cycle charts. For example right now transiting Pluto is at 18+ Capricorn retrograde which is the degree where Uranus and Neptune hooked up in 1993. That chart had Ceres at 28+ Aries opposite Jupiter at 26+ Libra and today’s transiting Uranus is at 28+ Aries. In other words, both transiting Pluto and transiting Uranus are activating the Uranus-Neptune cycle and all it entails. That 1993 cycle’s chart has Mars at 19+ Scorpio which is opposite the U.S. natal chart’s Vesta at 19+ Taurus and that tension is felt today. As it turns out the 1993 conjunction between Uranus and Neptune and today’s transiting Pluto all trine the U.S. natal Vesta and sextile the 1993 chart’s Mars, so it will probably all work out in some sublime but not thoroughly understood way.
A cycle being activated right now is the Uranus-Saturn one that began in 1988, and that’s because transiting Uranus and transiting Saturn have been in a trine aspect, the 3rd and final exact one will be this November. In the 3rd of 3 conjunctions in 1988 between Uranus and Saturn the Moon was at 27+ Capricorn, the same degree as the U.S. Pluto. As transiting Uranus and transiting Saturn approach the last of their trines in this cycle we should see and experience a remarkable cordiality between the Power (Pluto) of U.S. government (Capricorn) and the People (Moon) of the U.S. citizenry.
In that 3rd of 3 charts that began the Uranus-Saturn cycle (conjunct the Galactic Core by the way) there was an opposition between Neptune at 7+ Capricorn and Chiron at 7+ Cancer. This could very well involve the U.S. Uranus at 8+ Gemini in that the 1988 chart’s Neptune is quincunx (adjust) the U.S. Uranus, while the 1988 Chiron is only 2 degrees away from the U.S. natal Jupiter at 5+ Cancer. The Sun in that 1988 chart was at 25+ Libra, which is opposite where transiting Uranus will be this November when he exactly trines transiting Saturn at 25+ Sagittarius which will sextile the Sun in Libra in the 1988 chart. All the world will be amazed that some cordial agreement will take place in the face of appalling discord between entities, but we will know that it is thanks to the cycle between the two rulers of Aquarius, Saturn and Uranus, that made it happen. That’s what I like about looking at things from an historical perspective; the long view you could say. Astrology just gives us a preview of things to come.
be
When Trump became the new President transiting Neptune was conjunct the U.S. natal (Sibly) chart’s Nessus (abuse of power) at 9+ Pisces. Oh the Neptunian power of illusion.
Transiting Neptune was retrograde at the time and would station direct less than 2 weeks later. Trans. Neptune had been square the U.S. Uranus at 8+ Gemini in January and February, 2016 while at the same time transiting Jupiter and transiting North Node were both conjunct the U.S. Neptune at 22+ Virgo.
In fact, on January 27, 2016, transiting Moon, Jupiter and North Node were conjunct the U.S. Neptune at 7:02 PM, EST, and they were quincunx Eris at 22+ Aries. Mercury (media) and Pluto were conjunct at 15+ Capricorn (opposite U.S. Sun and square U.S. Saturn) . Transiting Mars and Juno (partner) were both at 12+ Scorpio (trine the U.S. Sun) and of course trans. Neptune squared the U.S. Uranus and was conjunct the U.S. Ceres who is one degree from the U.S. Nessus. What happened that day I wonder.
The influence in play was the Neptune-Saturn cycle with its Nessus conjunct U.S. Neptune and its Pholus conjunct the U.S. Uranus. (March 3, 1989, 5:40 AM, DC, 1st of 3 conjunctions)
By March, 2016 transiting Neptune was conjunct U.S. natal Nessus the 1st time (in direct motion) and whatever was going on at the time ( Hillary’s emails maybe?) probably triggered the Trump increase in popularity. Again, the centaurs facilitate a dialog between outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and the societal planets Jupiter and Saturn, so here we are talking about it and working our way toward needed change in the established ways of voting, governing, keeping the peace, educating, taxing, health care, . . . . . .
be
Blow it up and then piece it together is one way to bring about change to established ways, is this radicalism portrayed/projected in the movement of the planets too? Thank you very much for your analysis Be, always educational and mind-blowing but more so, appreciated! I’ve said in the beginning (& I am not alone on this thought) that the best thing about Trump et.al, is “he is making us think and account,” even if the Centaurs are working through him! You mentioned transiting Chiron once above but I hope its prominence is even more for I long for its hearing in this lifetime!
Regarding the youth discussion above, my observations were Americans in Florida, it’s coastal regions along the Gulf (Tampa Bay area) and South (FT Lauderdale area), chiefly, high-end boating community. Also, I just returned from Italy and met some Americans while there who were also Trump supporters (and surprisingly, young Italian men)! But, I have also discovered many more older Republicans who find him despicable! But we knew that from how the GOP reacted in the first place. My point on the observations, unfortunately, he has his followers/voters and if that doesn’t continue to galvanize us to react in addition to his actions in office, what else will?
Thanks again Be for your analysis.
Chiron reference isn’t “hearing” it’s “healing”: “I long for it’s healing in this lifetime!”
I think it’s very charitable of you to find anything good to say about Trump, Pisces Sun. He is, without doubt, the most egregious creep to have disgraced the world stage since Mussolini, but the time to worry is when he starts being nice.
Initially, he plays the classic fascist card of being outrageous in condemnation of his chosen enemies, then he calms down as his poison seeps unremarked into public consciousness. Eventually people find his policies acceptable “given the circumstances.” If he’s still in office in a year’s time, most people will, I’m sure, see him as “not so bad” and “a president who battles for America’s interests in very uncertain times.”
One view of his presidency is that it will continue only until he has all the contacts he needs to make any deal of which he can conceive. When political nuance prevents him from enjoying his toys of office to the fullest extent, he will tire of the restrictions and leave such burdens to the Handmaid’s society of inquisitors.
Praise the Lord. It’s a good day, brother.