John Bolton’s book will make little difference to President Trump’s reelection prospects. The president’s admirers, taking their lead from their champion, are already dismissing the former national security adviser as an embittered has-been, “a disgruntled boring old fool,” in the president’s own words.

If Trump’s base could turn on Jim Mattis, a Marine who led his troops with distinction in the two Iraq wars and in Afghanistan, they will have little difficulty slandering a civilian with an 1890s bartender mustache.