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Eugene

(61,819 posts)
Sat Dec 5, 2020, 10:53 AM Dec 2020

Jerrold M. Post, CIA psychological profiler who labeled Trump 'dangerous', dies of covid-19 at 86

Source: Washington Post

CIA psychological profiler who labeled Trump ‘dangerous’ dies of covid-19 at 86

By Sydney Trent
12/5/2020, 7:00:00 a.m.

As a pioneering psychological profiler for the Central Intelligence Agency and later as a consultant, Jerrold M. Post plumbed the lives, leadership styles and, at times, the mental illness of foreign heads around the globe. Over decades, his expertise and instincts were greatly in demand, especially at the White House.

The Harvard-trained psychiatrist advised former president Jimmy Carter about how best to negotiate with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat before the Camp David Peace Accords. He explained Sadat’s “Nobel Prize Complex” — his desire to be remembered as a great leader — and Begin’s biblical preoccupation and obsession with detail.

Post warned about labeling Saddam Hussein simply as “the mad man of the Middle East,” lest it mislead political leaders into thinking Hussein was unpredictable, when in fact he was not. As an expert in the psychology of terrorism, Post produced psychological profiles of suicide bombers in Israel and opined on the corporate leadership style of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

And yet in late 2019 — a year before his death on Nov. 22 of covid-19 at the age of 86 — Post found himself doing what at one point would have been unthinkable: publishing a book about the alarming psychological makeup of an American president.

In writing “Dangerous Charisma: The Political Psychology of Donald Trump and His Followers,” Post risked violating the American Psychiatric Association’s “Goldwater Rule,” which forbids the diagnosis of public figures without full evaluation and consent.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/jerrold-post-cia-trump-covid-death/2020/12/04/6dd566cc-35b2-11eb-b59c-adb7153d10c2_story.html

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Jerrold M. Post, CIA psychological profiler who labeled Trump 'dangerous', dies of covid-19 at 86 (Original Post) Eugene Dec 2020 OP
This is a shame. Mike 03 Dec 2020 #1
I did not read his book, but I think I will now. BComplex Dec 2020 #2
Very interesting. He had Tr down exactly. northoftheborder Dec 2020 #3
This message was self-deleted by its author CatLady78 Dec 2020 #4
... 2naSalit Dec 2020 #5

Mike 03

(16,616 posts)
1. This is a shame.
Sat Dec 5, 2020, 11:02 AM
Dec 2020

He was the first psychiatrist I heard warn that the period between the election and inauguration would be "the most dangerous time" of his presidency.

His book Dangerous Charisma is pretty good but it seemed rushed.

BComplex

(8,019 posts)
2. I did not read his book, but I think I will now.
Sat Dec 5, 2020, 11:07 AM
Dec 2020
RIP, to a great man, Jerrold M. Post!

COVID so sucks.

Response to Eugene (Original post)

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