Donald Trump’s 80th Solar Return:  The Year of Living Crazily?

By Alex Miller

The Solar Return is an astrologic technique whereby a chart is cast for the moment when the Sun annually reinhabits the zodiacal degree and minute of an individual’s birth.  Analysis of the chart can provide a thumbnail sketch of what to expect in the ensuing year, what challenges, benefits, roadblocks or advances may occur.  Often, an event will surface within a week or two of the birthdate which neatly encapsulates the energies of the coming year in on-the-nose metaphors that illustrate what’s to come.

Such may be the case with US President Donald Trump’s blowup interview with journalist Kristen Welker, moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the longest-running show on television, which aired 7 June 2026.  Conducted in Wisconsin during a torrential downpour outside which interfered with the sound, the interview became increasingly acrimonious, until Trump, in a fit of pique over Welker’s pushback on his endlessly repeated false claims of electoral fraud in America, abruptly ended the session, throwing his microphone on the floor and crushing it under heel as he stomped off the set.  The President had become red-faced and belligerent, accusing Welker of being either “crooked” or “stupid” when she pressed him for proof of his unsubstantiated claims.

Although a week out from Trump’s 80^th birthday on June 14^th (1), planetary patterns which will be in effect at that time were beginning to form, lending a flavor of what to expect in the year ahead.

Two conjunctions in particular give cause for concern that Trump’s apparently unhinged performance on “Meet the Press” may be just a preview of coming attractions.  The Sun (16 Gemini) conjunct asteroid Ophelia (15 Gemini) and Mercury (9 Cancer) conjunct asteroid MANIAC (11 Cancer) both argue for appreciable mental breakdown and irrational, even deranged, rhetoric (2).  Ophelia is named for the tragic character in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” who goes insane and drowns herself in a river.  MANIAC is named for an acronym of an early 1950s computer system, the Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator, and Computer, but functions astrologically as its homophone “maniac,” meaning “a wildly insane or violent person.”

Not a comforting combination in an octogenarian who just happens to be the most powerful man on Earth, with access to nuclear launch codes.  How much of his erratic, manic outbursts are performative political theater, and how much the result of genuine metal decline, remains to be seen.

There are several cosmic indicators of negative interactions that day between Welker and Trump.  Most tellingly, a pairing of asteroids Donn (13 Leo) and Kristenconn (12 Leo) (3), placing them in close proximity, both celestially and terrestrially, which is square (90 degrees, stressful) Mars (14 Taurus), noted for provoking anger, animosity and argument.  This establishes Trump and Welker as somehow thrown together, and at odds.

As well, two T-Squares (4) image the interaction, and Trump’s treatment of Welker.  Asteroid Kristina (11 Libra), a variant of the name, opposes (180 degrees, can be antagonistic) Saturn (12 Aries), which rules the government, heads of state and the presidency itself, indicating both Welker (Kristina) and Trump (Saturn).  This polarity squares that incipient Mercury/MANIAC conjunction, causing Welker to bring out the worst in the President’s communication style (Mercury); leaving the “Meet the Press” moderator (Kristina) dealing with someone appearing crazed (MANIAC). 

The second T-Square involves asteroid Kristensen (5 Taurus), opposed asteroid Toro (1 Scorpio), with a pairing of Pluto (5 Aquarius) and asteroid Whitehouse (3 Aquarius) on the fulcrum.  Again we see Welker (as Kristensen, a surname form) and the President (as Whitehouse, his official residence and seat of the American presidency) in a stressful (square) configuration, with Trump (Whitehouse) attempting to browbeat and bully (Toro, noted for bullying, intimidation and toxic masculinity) Welker (Kristensen) over his unfounded accusations of criminal (Pluto) electoral activity.

Amazingly, Kristen Welker’s birth chart (5) contains an exact conjunction of asteroids Donn and Kristenconn (both 16 Aries), presaging and mirroring their eventual direct interaction from this time, when the two points were again in conjunction.  Welker’s Sun (9 Cancer) is also an exact match for transit Mercury, triggering their interaction on that date, while natal MANIAC (29 Cancer) conjoins Saturn (2 Leo), suggesting contact with an unhinged (MANIAC) president (Saturn) at some point in her life.

For Donald Trump (6), Welker is a thorn in his side, someone he sees as an adversary or challenger, based on natal asteroid Kristina (17 Libra) opposed natal asteroid Welcker (18 Aries), an alternate spelling, forming a T-Square with natal asteroid Nemesis (16 Cancer), which identifies an enemy or opponent.  Interestingly, Kristina is embedded at station (7), signifying someone who makes a powerful impact, and exactly conjunct natal Jupiter, ruling politics, while Nemesis exactly conjoins natal asteroid Bilk (16 Cancer), indicating fraud or deception, here represented by Trump’s attempt to deceive the American people by lying about electoral fraud.

Notes: (1) Due to fluctuations in the Sun’s apparent path, the Solar return can occur anytime with a roughly 48 period of the original birth time. In this case, Donald Trump’s 2026 Solar Return occurs at 6:44 PM EDT on 13 June; chart set for Washington, DC

(2) By the time of the Solar Return itself, these points will have moved on slightly, with the Sun at 22 Gemini and Ophelia at 17 Gemini; and Mercury at 17 Cancer and MANIAC at 13 Cancer, both still well within orb of conjunction

(3) Kristenconn belongs to a specialized class of asteroids, termed a Compound-Name Asteroid, or CAN.  These are bodies named for an individual with both first and last names strung together as one word, which can be separated and used for either.  So Kristenconn becomes a marker for any Kristen, not just the original designee

(4) A T-Square is a dynamic pattern composed of two or more planets in opposition (180 degrees), each squared (90 degrees) a third.  It represents stress and conflict, with the fulcrum point (at the square) offering a possibility of resolution.

(5) Kristen Welker, born 1 July 1976, no time available

(6) Donald Trump, born 14 June 1946, 10:54 AM EDT, Queens, NY (Rodden Rating AA)

(7) Stations are periods when, from our perspective on Earth, a planet appears to slow its movement, come to a standstill, and reverse course.  This is an optical illusion created by the triangulation between the sun, Earth, and any third celestial body; astrologically, it represents a focusing of the energies associated with that point, and often coincides with major life events or a radical recalibration of how that point has functioned previously.

Sources:  reporting from NBC News; chart data from serennu.com; graphic images by author

Title Image Credit:  drawn by Chat GPT