Pete Hegseth: Should he stay or should he go?

By Sue Kientz

This hit song title by The Clash, slightly rephrased, is haunting Washington in the wake of “Signal-gate,” the scandal that surfaced March 24, 2025, of 18 top-level Trump appointees, many in his cabinet, who were caught texting about a military strike on the Houthis on commercial app Signal.(1) This stunning break in security protocol was revealed because Jeffrey Goldberg, chief editor of The Atlantic, was mistakenly added to the chat and no one participating realized his presence. The Trump administration subsequently circled the wagons, insisting what was discussed was not classified information, all okay because nothing untoward happened, no big deal, all Goldberg’s fault (somehow), and other unconvincing excuses. When a few days passed and Trump and his people kept denying the seriousness of this breach, specific calls grew – especially from government and military persons aware that this infraction was grounds for immediate dismissal or even court-martial – for someone to be fired or resign. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who shared military plan details that were then executed, was one name floated, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who built the chat and admitted he might have inadvertently put Goldberg into the group, was another.

President Trump spent several days defending Hegseth and Waltz, even as he was a weaker defender of Waltz, musing why Goldberg’s number was saved on Waltz’ phone. At this writing, Trump has fired no one, perhaps hoping that given time, the public will forget the whole thing, especially with a week of new steep tariffs coming and doubtless more shocking executive orders and Musk mass firings. Waltz was smart to admit fault, but Hegseth not only dismissed the seriousness of the call, he lied about the chat containing classified information, which caused Goldberg to release screen captures of the exchange. If all this weren’t enough, by week’s end the media reported that Hegseth’s wife attended other sensitive meetings with her husband that required security clearances.(2)  

How has Pete Hegseth avoided being canned? To find out, one needs to peer beyond the surface, a perspective that astrology provides. Hegseth’s birth data(3) is public and reveals that an oversized portion of luck is his, with giant Jupiter (15 Gemini), planet of generosity and good fortune, about to conjunct (be in the same degree as) Hegseth’s Sun (16 Gemini). But before he got lucky, he made a characteristic mistake when Jupiter, when the chat actually took place, passed semisquare (45 degrees, a problematic position) his natal Orcus (29 Cancer). Dwarf planet Orcus symbolizes order and rules, so Hegseth’s Sun semisquare Orcus means he is not good at following rules. Once expansive Jupiter is enmeshed in there, the rule broken is a huge one, and the problem caused is colossal. Also illustrative of the failure is Neptune (29 Pisces) has been conjunct his Moon (28 Pisces) (symbolizing one’s secrets, e.g., he thought his communication was private), and as last week progressed, both Mercury and Venus, moving “backwards”(4) or retrograde from Aries, reached Neptune and his Moon, in effect “piling on” more damning details that he was not truthful (Mercury, representing communication) and had even included his wife on other occasions while discussing similarly classified information (Venus: a loved one).  

Trump seems dug in about keeping Pete Hegseth, and no wonder, with Jupiter protecting his appointee at this key moment. But Jupiter will move on, while other, more persistent indicators for the Defense Secretary are not so rosy. Hegseth’s well-known history of getting into trouble, both by making wrong-headed choices at work or socially with coworkers, and his struggles with a drinking problem,(5) are described in full by his T-square of Sun opposite Neptune (21 Sagittarius; Neptune symbolic of escapism, which can manifest as alcoholism) bisected by Saturn (20 Virgo; work and career) and Mars (12 Virgo; anger, energy, sexuality), and Mars, like the Sun, is semisquare Orcus, that problem with honoring rules. Nearly every week the Moon hits one end or other of this knotty natal figure, so you can imagine the havoc that results when something slow and powerful moves into such a position. In early August, transiting Orcus, which moves almost as slow as Pluto, will reach 16 Virgo and square Hegseth’s Sun (without Jupiter there), as Mars (28 Virgo) opposes Hegseth’s Moon, and Saturn and Neptune (both 1 Aries) drift back retrograde to his Moon and that opposing Mars. Whatever arises from that could be the final straw.

Title Image credit: Pete Hegseth with wife dimly in background: U.S. Secretary of Defense, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Notes and References

1. Bacallao, A., and A. Marquez, “Timeline: The Trump administration’s shifting stance on the Signal chat debacle,” NBC News, 27 March 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/timeline-trump-administration-shifted-stance-signal-leak-rcna198360
2. Commander, Anna, “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Included Wife in Sensitive Meetings: Report,” Newsweek, 29 March 2025, https://www.newsweek.com/defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-included-wife-sensitive-meetings-report-2052491
3. Hegseth, Peter, 6 June 1980, 8:28 p.m., Minneapolis, MN (Birth Certificate), https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Hegseth,_Pete
4. All planets can appear to move retrograde, or backward in degrees as observed from Earth, due to the position of Earth sometimes moving faster than other bodies, so the other planets seem to drift backwards in the sky. Sun and Moon never appear to move retrograde.
5. McShane, Julianne, “A Running List of the Allegations Against Pete Hegseth,” Mother Jones, 2 December 2024, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/pete-hegseth-allegations/

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” ANS, 12 November 2024, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/