Trump's AI Blacklist: Pluto's Power Play in Aquarius

The rupture came over ethics—or, more precisely, over who gets to define ethical boundaries when those boundaries constrain state power.

According to reporting by The Register, the ban followed Anthropic's refusal to relax safeguards barring its models from use in mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. SiliconAngle added detail: Anthropic accused the Pentagon of offering new language framed as compromise, paired with legalese that would allow safeguards to be disregarded at will. An Anthropic representative stated: "Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters—with our two requested safeguards in place."

A Pentagon official offered the counterposition: "We have to be able to use any model for all lawful use cases. If any one company doesn't want to accommodate that, that's a problem for us."

The collision is absolute. Anthropic built its identity around what it calls "Claude's Constitution"—a documented set of principles guiding AI behavior, including respect for rights to work, participate in government, rest, have adequate standard of living, education, healthcare, and equal treatment. The company's founders, as Anthropic's own materials note, "believe AI can deliver transformative progress for research itself." But that constitutional framing now conflicts with a government demanding unrestricted lawful use.

The timing of this directive is astrologically precise. On February 28, 2026—the day after Trump's announcement—Mars sat at 28.26° Aquarius, forming an exact square to Uranus at 27.72° Taurus. This aspect is the astrological signature of explosive, unpredictable action. Mars represents aggression, initiative, and the will to act. Uranus represents disruption, technology, and the breaking of established patterns. When these two planets form a hard aspect, the result is often a sudden, forceful move that catches observers off guard.

The Mars-Uranus square is particularly potent when it occurs in fixed signs. Aquarius governs technology, collective systems, and institutional networks. Taurus governs resources, material security, and established value structures. The tension between these two signs—between technological innovation and material control—has been building throughout Uranus's transit through Taurus, which began in 2018.

But the presence of Mars in Aquarius, in the final degrees of the sign, adds a specific flavor to this moment. Mars in Aquarius is strategic, ideological, and willing to act on principle. Combined with Uranus, the result is action that is both calculated and disruptive—precisely the character of a government choosing to blacklist a major AI contractor over an ethical dispute.

Pluto's position at 4.52° Aquarius provides the deeper context. Pluto moves slowly, spending years in each sign. Its entry into Aquarius in 2023 marked the beginning of a two-decade transformation in how technology relates to collective power. The Anthropic blacklist is an early manifestation of this transit: the state asserting control over the technological systems that increasingly govern modern life.

Perhaps more telling is the conjunction forming between Saturn and Neptune in early Aries. On February 28, 2026, Saturn sat at 1.65° Aries while Neptune occupied 1.02° Aries—a separation of less than one degree. This conjunction, exact in the coming months, represents a fundamental restructuring of how authority and ideology interact.

Saturn is the planet of structure, limitation, and institutional power. Neptune is the planet of dissolution, imagination, and the blurring of boundaries. When these two meet in Aries—the sign of new beginnings, initiative, and assertive identity—the result is the birth of a new form of authority. Old structures dissolve. New ones crystallize from the mist.

The Anthropic blacklist fits this pattern precisely. The old structure—a partnership between government and AI companies defined by voluntary ethics frameworks—is dissolving. The new structure—government asserting direct control over what AI systems can be used, and for what purposes—is crystallizing. The involvement of Aries, a sign associated with executive action and unilateral moves, reinforces the character of Trump's directive: a bold assertion of sovereign power without consultation or compromise.

Neptune's role here is particularly important. Neptune governs ambiguity, deception, and the gap between appearance and reality. The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over contract language—Anthropic's claim that the Pentagon offered "legalese that would allow safeguards to be disregarded at will"—is pure Neptune. The ambiguity of language, the hidden implications of contractual terms, the struggle to define what words actually mean: all of this falls under Neptune's domain.

Saturn's presence ensures that the resolution will be structural, not merely rhetorical. When Saturn and Neptune meet, the result is not just confusion but the institutionalization of confusion—the creation of systems that embed ambiguity into their very architecture. The six-month phase-out period for Anthropic's AI systems is characteristic of Saturn: a structured timeline, a clear deadline, an orderly transition to a new arrangement.

Jupiter's position at 15.28° Cancer adds another dimension to this story. Jupiter is the planet of expansion, law, and institutional authority. Cancer is the sign of home, family, and emotional security. When Jupiter moves through Cancer, the expansion of protective measures becomes a theme—not expansion for its own sake, but expansion in service of protection.

The national security framing of the Anthropic blacklist is pure Jupiter in Cancer. The government is not merely changing contractors; it is protecting the homeland from a designated supply chain risk. The emotional resonance of security, safety, and the defense of American interests against potential threats: all of this falls under Jupiter's transit through Cancer.

But Jupiter in Cancer also raises questions about what is being protected and from whom. Cancer's energy is nurturing but also tribal. It draws sharp distinctions between insiders and outsiders, between those who belong to the family and those who do not. The designation of Anthropic—a company founded by Americans, headquartered in San Francisco, and until recently a trusted partner of the Department of Defense—as a supply chain risk, reflects this tribal logic. The company's refusal to relax its ethical safeguards placed it outside the family. The protective instinct of Jupiter in Cancer then required its exclusion.

The positions of Mercury and Venus on February 28, 2026, reveal the character of the negotiations that led to this rupture. Mercury sat at 22.21° Pisces, while Venus occupied 22.44° Pisces—a tight conjunction in the sign of ambiguity, hidden information, and dissolved boundaries.

Mercury in Pisces is not the most favorable position for clear communication. Pisces, ruled by Neptune, tends to obscure, idealize, and blur distinctions. Contract negotiations conducted under this influence are prone to misunderstanding, hidden agendas, and the gradual erosion of clear terms. The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over what their contract actually means—whether safeguards would be maintained or could be "disregarded at will"—is characteristic of Mercury in Pisces.

Venus in Pisces adds an element of idealism to the mix. Venus represents values, relationships, and the principles we hold dear. In Pisces, Venus becomes exalted but also potentially unrealistic. Anthropic's insistence on maintaining ethical safeguards, even at the cost of losing federal contracts worth billions of dollars, reflects Venus in Pisces: a commitment to ideals that transcends material calculation.

The conjunction of Mercury and Venus suggests that this dispute is as much about values as it is about contract terms. The two planets traveling together through Pisces indicate a negotiation in which both sides believe they are acting on principle—and both sides are struggling to understand what the other actually means.

The Moon's position at 0.5° Leo on February 28, 2026, speaks to the public dimension of this directive. The Moon governs public mood, emotional response, and the collective psyche. Leo is the sign of drama, performance, and the assertion of individual will.

A Moon at the very beginning of Leo—the first degree of the sign—suggests a new emotional beginning, a fresh assertion of dramatic energy. The public announcement of the blacklist, delivered via Truth Social in all-caps, is characteristic of this placement. It is not a quiet policy change buried in the Federal Register. It is a public spectacle, a demonstration of power, a performance designed to generate emotional response.

The Moon in Leo also speaks to the role of executive personality in this decision. Leo is the sign of the king, the ruler who acts from the heart. Trump's directive carries the stamp of Leo energy: unilateral, dramatic, designed to project strength and decisiveness. The six-month deadline, the naming of alternative systems like Grok, the designation of Anthropic as a risk: all of this serves to demonstrate that the executive is in control, that decisions are being made, that action is being taken.

The speed of Anthropic's transformation from trusted partner to excluded risk is striking. The company's partnership with the Department of Defense began on July 14, 2025. The blacklist was announced on February 27, 2026. Seven months—a single season—sufficed to transform Anthropic's relationship with the federal government from collaboration to exclusion.

This speed is characteristic of Pluto's influence. Pluto governs transformation, but not the slow, gradual change of Saturn. Pluto's transformations are often sudden, irreversible, and total. The destruction of a relationship, the collapse of an institution, the death of an arrangement that once seemed permanent: all of this falls under Pluto's domain.

The involvement of Aquarius—the sign of networks, systems, and collective arrangements—amplifies this quality. Aquarius governs the connections between entities, the structures that allow different organizations to work together. When Pluto moves through Aquarius, those connections become sites of transformation. Partnerships dissolve. Networks reconfigure. The map of who works with whom is redrawn.

Anthropic's experience is an early example of this process. The company's network of relationships with federal agencies—the GSA Schedule, the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, the Department of Defense partnership—has been severed in a single stroke. The network has been transformed. And Pluto's transit through Aquarius suggests that this is only the beginning.

Trump's suggestion of Grok—Elon Musk's AI system—as an alternative to Anthropic adds a political dimension to the blacklist. Grok, developed by Musk's xAI, has positioned itself as an AI system less constrained by the ethical frameworks that guide Anthropic and similar companies. Its integration with X (formerly Twitter) and its willingness to engage with controversial content have made it a favorite among users who view other AI systems as overly restrictive.

The suggestion that federal agencies should replace Anthropic with Grok raises questions about the role of political alignment in technology procurement. If Anthropic was blacklisted because it refused to relax ethical safeguards, and Grok is being suggested as a replacement because it lacks such safeguards, then the blacklist is not merely about national security. It is about what kind of AI the government wants to use—and what kind of ethical constraints it is willing to accept.

This question will only become more pressing as AI systems become more powerful and more integrated into government operations. The Pluto in Aquarius transit suggests that the relationship between government and AI will be a central site of struggle for the next two decades. Who controls these systems? What constraints apply to their use? Who gets to decide?

The Anthropic blacklist provides an early answer: the state claims the authority to decide, and it will exclude those who refuse to comply.

The Anthropic blacklist is not an isolated incident. It is a symptom of a larger transformation in the relationship between government power and technological systems. Pluto's transit through Aquarius will continue until 2043. During that time, the questions raised by this dispute—who controls AI, what constraints apply, who gets to decide—will be asked again and again.

The Mars-Uranus square that coincided with this directive suggests that the action was sudden but not impulsive. Mars in Aquarius is strategic. Uranus in Taurus is disruptive. The combination produces decisions that are both calculated and explosive—designed to catch observers off guard while advancing a longer-term agenda.

The Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries suggests that a new form of authority is crystallizing. Old arrangements between government and technology companies are dissolving. New ones are forming in their place. The six-month phase-out period is not merely a logistical convenience; it is the Saturnian structure being imposed on Neptunian dissolution.

For Anthropic, the blacklist represents a collision between corporate ethics and sovereign power. For the government, it represents an assertion of control over the technological systems that increasingly define modern life. For astrologers, it represents a clear manifestation of Pluto's transformative power working through the sign of technology and collective systems.

The next two decades will see this pattern repeat across the technology sector. Companies that accommodate government demands will find partnership. Companies that resist will find exclusion. The Anthropic blacklist is the opening move in a long game—and the planets suggest that the game has only just begun.

• Type: News Update
• Read time: 14 min