Republicans Won't Eat Lunch With John Bolton Anymore

For more than a decade, John Bolton was one of the top "draws" on the Republican fund-raising circuit. 

Thanks in part to his reputation as a two-fisted ambassador to the United Nations (under George W. Bush) who said what he felt about America's enemies in the world, Bolton could fill a banquet hall of Republicans and was for years the subject of a movement to draft him for president.

But with the publication of "The Room Where It Happened," Bolton's memoir of his stint as Donald Trump's national security adviser, it now seems highly unlikely he will be invited to many Republican dinners — let alone asked to be the main speaker.

"Republican candidates will be hard-pressed to ask Bolton to come out and campaign with or for them," former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele told Newsmax.

Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, pointed out, "while activists and candidates have taken their lead from Trump in the past, they are largely already out in front on what they believe was a broadside against Trump – who gave Bolton new life in his administration."

Recalling how the JohnBoltonPAC raised more than $2,477,861 for Republican candidates in 2018, Steele concluded "it may even be difficult for him to offer financial support from his PAC. And Republican grassroots want nothing to do with him."

"My view is anyone who serves in a national security post for the United States should sign an agreement similar to the official secrets acts that the British employ to keep their nations intelligence close to vest – and that no book can be written by them for a specified amount of time after leaving government service," veteran North Carolina political analyst Marc Rotterman said.

Rotterman also pointed out, "too many times former White House staff with an ax to grind write a book that's not fact checked, is sensational with an eye on cashing in."

David Pietrusza, author of six books on presidential campaign years, told us, "to put it mildly, Bolton has 'rebranded.' The vast majority of his Republican/conservative audience has vanished, and while a newer audience will emerge, it will not be as large."

Pietrusza said he believes Bolton "faces a conundrum. If Trump disappears after November, his new audience on the left deserts him. He is then older than old news. If Trump survives, Bolton's new audience won't be there to absorb his tales."

Gerard Kasser, chairman of the New York Conservative Party and a former admirer of Bolton's, said he felt part of the former White House official's popularity among the conservative grassroots "stemmed from him being a stand-up guy who told it like it is – tough and smart. This book makes him look like a bitter, vengeful disloyal staffer who is out to take the president down and make a buck in the process."

One dissenter in the group of Republican Bolton-watchers was Dan Schnur, professor at the Annenburg School of Communications at the University of Southern California and a veteran of four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns in California.

"Bolton has already become the sworn enemy of Trump's strongest loyalists," he said. "But there are still enough 'Never-Trumpers' and 'Nervous-Trumpers' in the party to keep him very busy and very much in demand."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.