Well, planet Neptune flowing through its own sign of Pisces is busy veiling the truth on a daily basis! And now that the tally of Donald Trump’s lies has surpassed 3,000 since January 20, 2017, the serial lies of the demagogue-in-chief are, at times, unbelievable and sometimes only petty yet his fans can’t seem to muster a care. Linked below is a May 5th segment from CNN‘s Anderson Cooper which asks, does anyone care when Trump lies?
And an accompanying analysis by CNN‘s Gregory Krieg chimes in with How can Trump lie so much and be ‘authentic’ at the same time? Here’s an explanation which in title alone attempts to mush together two antithetical elements for any astrologer: Saturnian authenticity with Neptunian deception. Meanwhile, I’ve always been told that truth mixed with a little falsehood is a lie, not a truth, yet we know that in the practice of Politics, a half-truth is very often a useful tool, even before Mr. Trump grabbed the Oval Office spotlight and coup’d the bully pulpit.
Well, all this fact vs fiction turmoil has brought on a quote from my all-time favorite journalist and one of my favorite writers, Mark Twain, whose following words are from his On The Decay of the Art of Lying, a tongue-in-cheek affair…or is it? In it Mr. Twain bemoans “the growing prevalence of the brutal truth” so see what you think but do not fret–for we may safely assume that Mr. Trump has never bothered to read such words as these, and besides–he never needed to since he comes by his lying talent naturally as seen by the square (blockage) between his natal Mercury (communications; thinking processes; news) and natal Neptune (lies, deceit; obfuscation; cheating; fakery). Yes, his ‘carnival barker’ and ‘snake oil salesman’ personas come from deep within, are applauded by his brash and rising Mars in dramatic Leo, sign of the showman, and are cheerfully supported by his bright Sun-NN-Uranus trio in duplicitous Gemini, Mercurial sign of the trickster.
Now here’s Samuel Clemons, aka, Mark Twain:
Lying is universal–we all do it. Therefore, the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others’ advantage, and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly, hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our high calling. Then shall we be rid of the rank and pestilent truth that is rotting the land; then shall we be great and good and beautiful, and worthy dwellers in a world where even benign Nature habitually lies, except when she promises execrable weather. (My italics.)
Rotting the land? Then maybe Donald Trump has read Twain’s words and internalized them as ‘authentic’ with a spirit of Saturnian seriousness for rotting the land of America seems to be part of Trump’s mission–with a lot of help from complicit, overly compromised Republicans.
Related: do you know that ‘Mark Twain’ shares a double Fire personality blend with recent Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ronan Farrow? And if you’ve never seen it, here’s a view of Samuel Clemons’ C-Rated natal horoscope for the curious.