Even if the Trumps fail, as is expected, to keep Too Much and Never Enough off shelves, that won’t necessarily spell the end of Mary Trump’s legal headaches. The family could still bring a civil action against her after publication. That war would be waged based on differing interpretations of what one can only assume is an absurdly draconian NDA. Even then, Mary could still have the upper hand.

“If they really wanna litigate with her on this, then she’s got grounds for really serious discovery, and that’s the same mistake he made with my lawsuit,” said Tim O’Brien, who famously prevailed in a $5 billion battle over the publication of his 2005 Trump biography. “He chose three pages about his wealth, and that opened him up to discovery on his bank records, tax records, and two days of depositions that remain a very embarrassing public record.”

I asked O’Brien, someone who has both tangled with Donald Trump and reported on him extensively, how damaging he thought Mary Trump’s book could potentially be. “I think generally, very few books are gonna add to what we know about who Trump is, as this profoundly damaged and dangerous man,” he said. “The value added now is in the specifics. So I don’t know that Mary Trump’s book will add to what is already a portrait of a dark and disturbed man, but she certainly could add a lot of specific information about the family’s finances, and possible legal issues arising from that.” One other pearl of wisdom: “All authors should recognize that Trump is an eternal and unflinching saber-rattler who uses litigation to scare people and rarely follows through.”