Friday Bite 13 November 2026

Hubris

“We’ll ⁠work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, ​look ​forward ⁠to working with them. We’ll ​probably work ​something ⁠out,” Donald Trump, 4 November.

“Does anyone really believe that this “Election” was honest? How could the polls be so wrong? It’s all about the machines, which are more important than the votes.” Donald Trump, Truth Social, 9 November

“Mr Huang’s unravelling is not a technology story, it is a timeless tale of masculine hubris, a man undone by reckless overconfidence.” Stephen Witt, author of The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip, 12 November.

A WEEK IS a long time in Washington. President Trump’s insouciance over the “blue tsunami” was soon eclipsed by his all too familiar rant about election-rigging. Somehow I felt comforted by that. It was at least good to know that leopards never change their spots.

The euphoria over the Democrats’ sweep to power was, as I thought, short-lived. Their first action, premature to put it politely, was to initiate a vote to impeach Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War. Eleven democrats never showed up and the motion did not pass and has been sent to the graveyard of the Judiciary Committee.

To return to leopards and spots. Last Friday, President Trump replaced his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, with Stephen Miller, one of the architects of Project 2025 and considered to be the brains behind the controversial and deadly ICE purges. Two days later, and Trump was busy defending Jensen Huang – “He’s an honourable man” – this, despite his being warned on at least two occasions – the most recent in May of this year by Marco Rubio – that the CEO and founder of Nvidia had had an affair with a female executive of Megaspeed, an AI infrastructure and cloud computing company, who had been flagged by intelligence as a Chinese spy.

Meanwhile in Abu Dhabi, US-brokered talks between officials from Ukraine and Russia delivered an impressive prisoner-exchange agreement, although it has yet to be ratified. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Moscow at the time talking to Putin who apparently was open to the idea of Europe being part of on-going talks to end the war in Ukraine. The following day the two envoys were in Dublin meeting with Zelensky who welcomed Putin’s openness to Europe’s involvement in future peace talks. (You could almost read the disbelief in the Ukrainian president’s body language.) And as if there was any doubt that Putin has not relaxed his opinion on Europe, he had this to say yesterday: “The presence of foreign troops in Ukraine is unacceptable to Russia…[but] Moscow would like the Americans to engage with Europe so that the Europeans can decide what they truly want: peace or war.”

All the while governments in the UK and Europe were dealing with a variety of threats– 300 schools in Italy had to be evacuated after bomb threats and US military aircraft based in England were relocated due to intelligence warnings of a strike. France believes last week’s cyber-attacks on refrigerating systems across Europe were instigated by Iran.

IF WE GO back twenty years to 2006/7 we find a parallel between the state of affairs in America and now. George W. Bush was president and deeply unpopular for his war in Iraq. The midterms had changed the make-up of Congress giving Democrats the upper hand in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Then as now, Democrats sought to bring an end to the war. In January 2007, days after members of Congress were sworn in, Bush began “the surge” increasing the number of troops in Iraq by 170,000. And, as we know, the war in Iraq continued until December 2011.

On Thursday, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to say, “We don’t need a deal with Iran… those days have long-since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait.” It remains to be seen whether these words presage a further attack on Iran.

There is also another parallel to times past – the bursting of the dot-com bubble. The peak occurred in March of 2000 and over the course of the following twelve months, markets fell leading to a full-blown recession. 9-11 occurred in 2001 and the War on Terror was a direct result of that attack. Similarly in 2007, the collapse of the subprime markets led to a global financial crisis by 2008.

And here we are in November 2026: markets over-priced, countries across the world overloaded with debt and an over-inflated AI bubble. And we have a war in Iran and another in Ukraine.

I had thought that the Jupiter-Pluto opposition of late July would represent the peak of the AI bubble and markets would start to decline thereafter. However, the resignation on Thursday of Jensen Huang, the charismatic and brilliant founder and CEO of Nvidia, is now looking like a more likely candidate.

Since last Sunday, Nvidia has lost £415 billion in stock market value, and while other AI companies’ stocks have fallen and the shockwaves have spread through markets across the world, some AI and tech companies have seen their value rise. So, it’s far from a certainty that this represents the beginning of a major global market collapse and an ensuing recession. It could simply inspire a necessary correction.

We’ll know a little more on 17 November when Nvidia announces its earnings and dependent upon whether it believes demand will remain strong or it issues a more cautious approach, markets will respond accordingly.

The chart above provides a picture of the astrology presiding over the Nvidia debacle. I’m not sure that Huang announced his resignation at 9 o’ clock in the morning, but the first reports were appearing in the media by 9:15 EST. In the above chart, Saturn is closely conjunct the IC and Neptune a little further away, thus the MC-IC axis creates a Kite configuration. (How many times have we seen Kites presiding over major events this past year.) Nvidia’s natal Venus is 9 degrees of Aries and thus currently subject to the Saturn transit while the applying Jupiter-Mars conjunction (25 degrees of Leo) is opposed to Nvidia’s natal Saturn and squaring natal Pluto. And just for good measure, Jensen Huang’s natal Sun is 27 degrees of Aquarius, thereby conjoined to the nodal axis and opposed by the Mars-Jupiter conjunction. Last but not least, transiting Neptune is opposing the natal moon, which is conjunct Jupiter.

In many ways, Jupiter is placing its signature on these events. And while we tend to focus on Jupiter’s properties of great, good fortune and welcome growth, it can also inflate difficulties and has in the past been in high profile when financial bubbles burst. The Mars-Jupiter conjunction will become exact on Monday (16th) at 25 degrees of Leo and at the same time the Sun will be squaring them both. The Sun boosts the power of the Mars-Jupiter conjunction, and while for some this is going to be a lucky period, for others hubris will hang heavy in the air.

My reading of the astrology combined with the economic factors I have outlined above, is that this is not just the beginning of a correction but a much bigger financial event.

As always, we must wait and see.

Friday Bite 6 November 2026

The Great Wave

“If we lose Texas, we lose America.” Ken Paxton, State senator, Republican

“Tonight we defeated Goliath. All the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas.” James Talerico, State senator Texas, Democrat.

“Lawyer up” Robert Garcia, House Oversight Committee Chairman, 3 November

‘The reason we lost is the war. The President himself said so last night. If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.’ JD Vance X 4 November

“It’s a golden age of America… We have a country that we can be proud of again. We were laughed at all over the world for four years. We were laughed at like we were stupid people. We were laughed at by every ruler, every president, every prime minister, every king, every queen, but they don’t laugh anymore. Thank you very much, everybody.” Donald Trump, Eve of the Midterms

“If I were on the ballot we would have won… I’ll get along, probably, with the Democrats unless they want to be destructive, but we have the power of the veto so if we don’t like what they’re doing…” Donald Trump, 4 November

THE WAVE OF change that began on Tuesday with the United States midterms is about to get even bigger. So great was the reversal of fortune for Donald Trump, the Republicans and Project 2025, that it has swamped other global developments that have the potential to transform the fortunes of Europe and the United Kingdom, if not the rest of the western world. It is time to celebrate the power of the American people to push back Donald Trump and his authoritarian ambitions, but it is only the beginning, and a lot can happen in the next fifty-eight days between now and 3 January.

I’d recommend fastening your seatbelts.

What may have gone largely unnoticed is the spread of the Ukraine war into the Black Sea where attacks on cargo ships are exposing the vulnerability of Romania and Bulgaria – both NATO countries – to Russian aggression. On Monday, cyber-attacks on European supermarkets from Sweden to Belgium, Estonia to Romania caused temperatures of refrigeration systems to rise forcing stores to throw away hundreds of thousands of Euros of food. Also on Monday, the first of a series of hoax bomb threats led to scores of flights across Europe to be diverted, grounded and escorted by fighter jets to military air bases.

There is no finger pointing at any state actor’s involvement, but there is more than a little speculation that it might be Putin testing NATO’s red lines.

I felt mention should also be made of the downfall of the once feted actor and comedian Russell Brand, who, on Thursday was convicted of rape and sexual abuse, crimes committed during the nineties and early 2000s when he was at the height of his fame. He will be sentenced on Monday and is expected to spend more than ten years in prison.

I’M GOING TO start with Russell Brand because he is among a large number of celebrities and leading figures to be forced to pay for historical crimes and misdemeanours during Saturn and Neptune’s transit of Pisces (2023 – 2025) and the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries, which continues to remain in play until February of 2027.

In his 2007 memoir, My Booky Wook, Brand talks about his troubled childhood – as a young child he was exposed to porn as a consequence of his father’s open sexual proclivities. The actor also revealed his addiction to drugs, bulimia and self-harm, all of which surely played a part in his sexual abuse of women as an adult. The actor started a YouTube channel in 2007 in which he espoused various conspiracy theories and championed the underdog before becoming a Christian influencer. In 2024, he was baptised in the River Thames by adventurer, TV presenter and former SAS trooper, Bear Grylls. Brand was briefly married to Katy Perry and since 2017 has been married to author and illustrator Laura Gallacher with whom he has three children.

There are two charts for Russell Brand. In his memoir, he referred to being born at midnight on 4 June 1975, but didn’t specify whether it was zero hours or at the very end of the day. I have a slight preference for the end of the day because the Midheaven has moved into Sagittarius and the Moon in Aries is sandwiched between Mars and Jupiter.

I was surprised to find Capricorn rising, since his persona, at least in the past, was always extrovert, provocative and overtly challenging, however, on his YouTube channel we find a rather more serious Brand. Although, perhaps we should remember that Capricorn can be a horny old Goat!

There are several features worthy of note. The nodal axis is conjunct the MC-IC axis, a phenomenon I often find in the charts of people destined to have an impact on the world. (The nodal axis is the point at which eclipses occur, and eclipses have an aura of fate and destiny about them. Having the nodal axis on the angles is a little like being born on an eclipse.) Neptune resides in the tenth house, which reflects Brand’s career in film and television and his palpable charisma. It also suggests he can be a stranger to the truth and certainly someone who can shape reality according to his own perception. This position also points to his role as a Christian influencer, and possibly, a deep and profound faith. The Sun opposes Neptune, which reinforces the above but also presents an image of an “unreal father”, someone who wasn’t truly there for him. And this is also where we would point the finger at his many addictions. Venus is conjunct the Descendant, which supports his love for women – many, many, many women – and in square to the MC-IC axis, symbolic of all things Venusian having a part in his success and downfall.

By solar arc progression, Mars has reached his IC and transiting Uranus is currently hovering over his IC, inspiring change, awakenings and quite the life adjustment.

MISSING FROM THE list of earth-shaking events this week are the two earthquakes that occurred in the waters surrounding Japan. The first, on Sunday, was magnitude-6.0 and the second, today, was magnitude 6.1. I’m not sure what Stephan Burns, geologist and burgeoning astrologer, has to say about these two earthquakes occurring so closely together on the same fault line, but I am pretty sure he would see them as yet another sign of more serious ruptures to come. As far as I am concerned, two large earthquakes in five days along the same fault line, is symbolic of the “blue tsunami” which took place on Tuesday.

Speaking of which…

ONE OF THE biggest surprises of the midterms was that President Trump didn’t immediately declare a “mistrial” and start demanding recounts and accusing sundry Democrats and states of stealing the election! Instead, he has remained largely sanguine and more concerned about his building projects. I think we should view this as a diversionary tactic or perhaps even a sign that he is in denial. Donald Trump has always been a sore loser, and with enough time prior to the midterms to see which way the wind was blowing, he almost certainly put in place plans to ensure he remains the power on the throne. Those plans may be not only to issue executive orders left, right and centre and ignore, as before, the opinions of Congress, but to use emergency powers in view of a national emergency. And we may see some of those plans materialize by mid-to-late November.

Celebrations have a habit of being followed by hangovers, and it remains to be seen whether this massive democratic wave can inspire real change for the better. The cost of living is going to be hard to bring down and division within the ranks between progressives and moderates – plus no anointed leader at present – threatens the unity necessary to reverse the Trumpian wrongs.

Transiting Mars, currently at 20 degrees of Leo, is making its way to a Mars-Jupiter conjunction at 26 degrees Leo on 16 November. And that just happens to be the degree of Donald Trump’s rising Mars. He is thus, strangely, feeling empowered at this moment in time and far more likely to make aggressive and dangerous moves. The trouble is, progressed solar arc Neptune is conjunct his Moon and opposing his Sun, which is blinding him to reality and inspiring him to believe that he has super-powers.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can take another look at the chart for the midterms which I analysed in last Friday’s Bite. We can now see that the Mars-Jupiter conjunction flanking the Midheaven and squaring the rising Mercury resulted in a massive turnout. Voters came out in their droves to express how angry they were at the state of the nation in general and Donald Trump in particular. However, there was no violence and no major incident. Nor did the Moon-Neptune opposition result in chaos and confusion on the day, and although there are still some states to declare, there are no murmurings of discontent. However, bear in mind, this chart is going to remain active until the elected representatives and senators take their seats in Congress on 3 January, so the potential for chaos and confusion remains.

On the day of the elections, the Moon was square Uranus, which perfectly chimes with the notion of a people’s revolution, and on 24 November there will be a full moon at 2 degrees 20’ Gemini, conjunct Uranus, and squaring the midterms’ Moon. So, this is certainly a period to watch for events of shock and awe.

Another feature worthy of note is that the Ascendant of the Midterms chart is 14 degrees 37’ Scorpio and the Sun and Mercury are placed at 11 and 13 degrees of Scorpio respectively. The Democrat party’s natal Jupiter-Mars conjunction is to be found at 10 and 12 degrees respectively of Scorpio. If that didn’t signal a win for the Democrats, I don’t know what did. I should have taken the time to look at the party’s chart last week.

We should also not forget that the midterms took place while Mercury and Venus were retrograde, so there is plenty of room for reversals, detours and diversions. We may have to wait until the end of next week and the beginning of the following to see what this amazing blue wave can do in the face of a determined and unscrupulous administration.

The honeymoon may be all too brief.