When Was America's Longest Government Shutdown?

by Jude Cowell, partisan for the common good

So far, America's longest federal government shutdown of 34 days occurred under orders from D. J. Tr*mp who inhabited the Oval Office at the time. Whether the current shutdown will best his previous record set in 2018-2019 remains to be seen, but it's clear that all Americans will be negatively effected in some way or ways, as the shutdown harms the US economy and causes losses that in these early days of the shutdown are difficult to predict.

Now as a Saturnian astrologer, I do try to be realistic as possible and so I must relate this vise-like situation to Mr. T's Mars rising in Leo directly opposing the US Aquarius Moon's position in the late afternoon of July 4, 1776. To me, it feels as if the red-tied fellow's belligerence is obvious and his targeting of We The People is there for all to see who will. Plus, our 1776 Moon's Sabian Symbol is telling: "A Tree Felled and Sawed," and I believe that's what these saboteurs are up to, sorry to say.

Just ask OMB manager Russell Vought who is said to relish the current government shutdown as a major purging opportunity, a part of his dystopian Project 2025 agenda which the Heritage Foundation has planned for years.

So! Above you see two DC Horoscopes with Sabian Symbols added for both: the 10 North Solar Eclipse (lower right) which perfects on February 17, 2026 @28AQ49 and rising in DC, along with the Great Conjunction of the social safety net program duo of Saturn and Neptune on February 20, 2026 @00Ari45 (upper right). This is a rock'em'sock'em pair of cosmic events as far as Political Astrology and society are concerned, or at least that's how I must realistically look at it. But as always, dear reader, you do you.

Brief Saturn-Neptune Astro-Notes

You'll remember that Saturn and Neptune last joined forces 3 times in 1989 in the 10-12 Capricorn degree range of the Tropical Zodiac under Mr. Reagan, with the 1980s known as The Decade of Greed.

Plus, the planetary pair's midpoint is known as the "illness axis" and symbolizes weak, ill, and/or poor folk who are deeply despised by power elite politicians and the billionaires who financially support them, as well as undermining circumstances and/or "the methodical execution of plans" (R. Ebertin). These are plans such as the Project 2025 purge agenda. Yes, privation and/or renunciation can occur under Saturn-Neptune influences. And with the duo conjunct Aries Point, Ebertin adds a potential for hysteria. Sorry, but there it is.

Meanwhile, with a mere smidgeon of stretching, the 10 North Eclipse of 2026 may be entitled, the "A Tree Felled and Sawed" Eclipse if we don't mind backing up a degree from the rounded-up "29AQ" to the previous karmic confrontation degree of "28AQ," and this is why I consider the 2026 manifestation of 10 North to be a significant eclipsing of the American people (throwing shade on us!) because this Symbol correlates with the events and conditions in society that are being manipulated at the present time by saboteurs of the criminal kind. Because we know that all eclipses are karmic and are often labeled "wild cards" of the Universe in relation to complete changes of direction like an unexpected "bolt from the blue."

Then finally, if we consult Rose Lineman's Eclipse book concerning a Moon-Eclipse conjunction, we find that our intuitive understandng of past events and their effects on the present (ex: past government shutdowns) is a blessing in disguise for conscious awareness will provide us with knowledge of actions we should take in order to ensure progress.

It's the skeptics who wish to repeat mistakes of the past in order to gum up the works who must be overcome.