Dangerous Charisma by Jerrold Post

DANGEROUS CHARISMA by Jerrold Post is about “The Political Psychology of Donald Trump and His Followers.” We have heard SO much about that in the past few weeks as the 2024 election cycle ramps up. It is extremely disconcerting. Post, who served multiple decades with the CIA and was the founding director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, divided his text into three sections: the Charismatic Leader, the Political Psychology of Trump’s Followers, and Trump’s Impact. In a chapter titled “The Quintessential Narcissist,” Post noted traits like inability to empathize with others, no constraint of conscience, paranoid orientation, unconstrained aggression, underlying insecurity, and extreme sensitivity to slight; he included numerous and varied examples relating to Trump. In a later section Post noted, “there is a quality of mutual intoxication for both sides, whereby Trump reassures his followers who in turn reassure him of his self-worth.” Another chapter, called “Permission to Hate,” chronicles how Trump’s “derogatory language has the power to inspire hate crimes” and “using hateful rhetoric toward already discriminated against groups helps make a climate where hate is more acceptable.” Numerous statistics support these assertions. This text was published in 2019 so that was prior to January 6, 2021. Post did not see that day (he died in late 2020), but in this book he acknowledged the possibility of Trump not accepting the election results. Post’s wife says, “He felt … that psychiatrists have a duty to warn.” Unfortunately, we see much of what Post predicted coming to the forefront of American politics again. Kirkus summed up DANGEROUS CHARISMA well: “A damning study of Trump’s mind that goes a long way toward explaining some damnably odd behavior.” More recently, The Washington Post published an article titled “Science is revealing why American politics are so intensely polarized” which, like Jerrold Post, turns to political psychology for explanations. It discusses tribalism and “othering, aversion, and moralization” to activate emotional responses.