Dangerous Charisma

by Jerrold Post

Overview

Offering an in-depth psychological and political portrait of what makes Donald Trump tick, Dangerous Charisma combines psychoanalysis with an investigation into the personality of the current American president. This narrative not only examines the life and psychology of Donald Trump, but will also provide an analysis of the charismatic psychological tie between Trump and his supporters.While there are many books on Donald Trump, there has been no rigorous psychological portrait by a psychiatrist who specializes in political personality profiling. As the founding director of the CIA’s Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, Dr. Post has created profiles of world leaders for the use of American presidents during historic events. As once stated by Jane Mayer of the New Yorker, who characterized Dr. Post as “a pioneer in the field of political personality profiling,” “he may be the only psychiatrist who has specialized in the self-esteem problems of both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.” In this new book, the psychiatrist who once served under five American presidents applies his expertise to profiling the current resident in the White House, with surprising and revelatory results.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643132877
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,242,991
File size:	464 KB

About the Author

Jerrold M. Post, M.D., is considered the founding father of political personality profiling, having served a 21-year career with the CIA as the founding director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior. Following his CIA career, he became Professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology and International Affairs at George Washington University. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College and received his M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine. He received postgraduate training in psychiatry from Harvard Medical School and the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Post is the author of fourteen books in the field of political psychology, most recently Narcissism and Politics: Dreams of Glory from Cambridge University Press. Over the course of his career, Dr. Post has been interviewed on CNN, ABC, NBC, FoxNews, MSNBC, CNBC, and has made frequent appearances on CBS’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, as well as ABC's Nightline, CBS’s Face the Nation, and ABC’s Good Morning America.

Editorial Reviews

An unflinching, powerful book . . . totally satisfying.

Robert M. Dorn

A highly useful account of what is special about illness and incapacity in political leaders. A substantial contribution on a complex and fascinating subject.

Edward J. Burger

Jerrold Post has made it plain to those of us in government that the health and stability of heads of other nations may have as much to do with our national security as weapons and armies. Now he and Robert Robins bring that notion to a wider audience in a readable and important book.

Les Aspin

A persuasive case for giving more attention to what to do when world leaders suffer serious ailments.

The Economist [praise for Jerrold Post]

This book is a breakthrough in the study of political leadership. Combines medical, political, and psychological analysis in a highly original account of the effects of aging and illness on political leaders in various times and cultures. It should be read by scholars and citizens alike, not least by those in power.

Robert J. Tucker

This incisive analysis of illness and leadership is nothing short of a tour de force.

Bert Park

Post is a pioneer in the field of political-personality profiling.

Jane Meyer

A sophisticated and knowledgeable treatment of a most complex and demanding subject. A book of top importance during an era when so many global and national leaders are subject to heavy stress and illness.

James MacGregor Burns

Dozens of books about Donald Trump have been published in 2019, but few are as clinically analytical as Dangerous Charisma by Jerrold M Post, the man considered the founding father of political personality profiling.

The Independent

2019-09-11
When the CIA's former lead shrink starts examining your head, a person might suspect that there's trouble afoot.

There's a long-standing principle in psychiatry that a doctor should not venture an analysis—a public profile, more formally—of someone without that person's consent and without having made an in-person assessment. "The ethical principle seemed extreme and overdrawn," writes Post (Narcissism and Politics, 2014, etc.) in light of the fact that other academicians, including psychologists and political scientists, regularly deliver opinions about the mind of Donald Trump. Forgive him the professional transgression, for what the author has to say is of pressing interest and helps elucidate much of Trump's eccentric behavior. At the heart of the narrative is a portrait of the mental makeup of the narcissist, coupled with the mass psychology of a crowd of supporters who are locked into near worship of a charismatic leader. That charisma may not always be a bad thing; Post, for instance, attributes to it the success of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. But the narcissism component is seldom positive, and it explains many things about Trump. "The only loyalty a person with his malignant or pathological narcissism has is to himself and his own survival," Post writes, and never mind the fate of those around that person, since loyalty flows only in the direction of Trump and not the other way. Paranoia, insecurity, bluster, constant aggression, and utter lack of empathy are other components of the template. Worse news comes at the end of this complex but unflagging account when he ponders the possibility that this will all end not with a whimper but a bang, either through the nuclear war that Trump has long feared or the refusal to relinquish office if defeated in 2020, since "the loss of the limelight which has been such a rewarding accompaniment of the presidential role will be very difficult for him to tolerate."

A damning study of Trump's mind that goes a long way toward explaining some damnably odd behavior.

Kirkus Reviews