“Should Trump win, as he did in 2016, he will make it a much bigger win and talking about the fraudulent election support on the Democratic side. But should Trump lose narrowly, I think we can be assured that he will not concede early. Trump may not even recognize the legitimacy of the election.”
–– Dr. Jerrold M. Post, MD, former Director of the CIA’s Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, Chief Psychological Profiler, in Salon interview December 2, 2019
CIA Psychological Profiler Who Labeled Trump “Dangerous” Dead Of COVID-19 Aged 86
By Sydney Trent
As a pioneering psychological profiler for the Central Intelligence Agency and later as a consultant, Professor Dr. Jerrold M. Post, MD 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 Yale-and-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.
Professor Dr. Jerrold M. Post, MD
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.
“He was a Life Fellow of the APA, but he said if they kicked him out, he didn’t care,” said his wife, Carolyn Post. “He felt it was that important and that psychiatrists have a duty to warn.”
By then, Post had had a storied two-decade career as Founding Director of the CIA’s Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior. He then used his expertise to found Political Psychology Associates, a research and consulting firm that specialized in industrial espionage, counterterrorism and leadership assessment. All along, he lectured as a Professor at George Washington University, wrote 14 books and continued to see patients in a private practice he ran out of the basement of his Bethesda home.
His career success, his family said, was a reflection of an insatiable, roving curiosity and a probing empathy for his fellow humans — qualities that also made him a highly engaging friend and a nurturing husband, father and doctor.
He devoured books about politics and history, with a penchant for Read the rest of this entry »
