James Mattis

A group of Republicans is hoping to convince retired Gen. James Mattis to run for president.

(Alex Brandon)

A group of Republicans who don't want Donald Trump to be president has found an alternative, and it isn't Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The man of the moment is retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis.

The well-funded, in-the-works plan to get the former Central Command top dog into the White House is straightforward -- and the mother of all long shots.

Mattis, 65 and a former field commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, would run as an independent in the event the major-party nominees were Trump and Hillary Clinton, even though he probably wouldn't be able to get on the ballot in all 50 states. The campaign would concentrate on the swing states that tilt Republican. If Mattis wins a handful of them, goes the thinking, he would deny both Trump and Clinton the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. That would kick the decision to the GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives, which surely would prefer a bona fide American hero to a reality-TV star who's a hero in his own mind. (There's no chance a Republican Congress would elect Clinton as president.)

Does this plan feel queasily undemocratic? In a situation like this, Mattis backers say, it's best to simply think of what's best for the republic.

"All bets are off this election cycle," national-security expert and Mattis supporter John Noonan said in Military Times. "We shouldn't be embarrassed to allow the American people a good choice for president." Noonan supported Jeb Bush's failed presidential campaign before turning to Mattis.

Political strategist and Mattis backer Rick Wilson told The Daily Beast: "The theme of 2016 is 'all bets are off,' and this is a cycle where the unexpected has become the defining characteristic of this election. In a moment when American politics on the left and right has been upended, and where the front-runners of both parties are compromised, the time may be upon us where a uniquely qualified, and uniquely credible, third-party alternative like General Mattis can take the stage."

Mattis, for his part, has made no public comment on the movement to bring him into the presidential mess, but it's unlikely he would find it daunting.

"I don't worry about stress," Mattis reportedly once said of his mindset during his military career. "I create it."

The Military Times writes that Mattis had "one of the most dynamic careers for a general officer since the late Lt. Gen. Lewis 'Chesty' Puller." Mattis was by all accounts widely beloved by his men. "Demonstrate to the world," he told them, "there is no better friend, no worse enemy than a U.S. Marine."

Will a Mattis candidacy actually happen? Probably not. But the general's fans like the reaction they're getting. As news of the Draft Mattis movement began to circulate over the weekend, Noonan snarkily tweeted, "What's with Trump fans and caps lock?"

-- Douglas Perry