geostationary satellites are waaay up there at about 25k miles, where they are not subject to "gravity".
I hate to break this to you but they are affected by gravity. That's why they stay in one place continuously. The Earth's gravity holds them there at that particular distance.
Fair enough, I could have written that bit better.....
the centrifugal force of their specific orbits maintains their distance from the earth.....big deal.
the basic theory and question as a matter of physics and the alleged forces during alignment remains.
Do their orbits change with "alignment" conditions or not?