I read an article that revealed he was out of favor during the Bush administration within two years. And after trying to get Trump to start WW3 and WW4 he has basically burned his bridges with both ends of the party. That’s why this book is so important to him because it’s all downhill for for him from here at age 71.
Actually Bolton and his ilk want no part of a real war, which means a conflict with a start and some sort of conclusive ending event. What they seek are ‘conflicts’ which are actions indefinite in length, infinite in various modalities (nation building,infrastructure restoration and upgrade, institutional reform, etc.) that have no established end dates and no definable conditions of successful conclusion. The goal is not to fight but create an interminable conflict situation in which US forces have no real idea what they are trying to accomplish and the permanent government and K Street keep dreaming up new opportunities for promotion, enrichment and profit for the insider corporations.