President Trump is moving to protect his flank from potential 2020 primary challengers, seeking to defend against lax Republican National Committee rules that open the door for intraparty opposition that could frustrate his prospects.

Twenty months before the Republican Convention in Charlotte and more than a year before the first primaries, top Trump advisers have begun the process of establishing delegate slates that will ensure the president’s nomination for a second term. Trump’s team has been focused almost since he was inaugurated on creating the conditions for a smooth re-nomination.

As chatter about possible primary challenges has increased, some Republican insiders have fretted about the ease with which long-shot opponents might use RNC rules to place their name into nomination on the convention floor in August of 2020. Trump wouldn’t be threatened, but the spectacle could prove embarrassing and hobble him down the stretch of the fall campaign.

"You don't put the White House political director in charge of recruiting delegates if there isn't an expectation that someone, even a sacrificial lamb, will challenge Trump for re-nomination,” a former RNC official said. “The fact is, the rules for 2020 are horrible and allow for an ugly, distracting and expensive primary, as well potentially a fight at the convention.”

Most Republicans interviewed for this story requested anonymity in order to speak candidly. The Trump campaign declined to comment. The RNC did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, Trump dispatched top White House political aides Bill Stepien and Justin Clark to his campaign to run point on the re-nomination process. These veteran Republican operatives are focusing on ballot access for potential nominees, recruiting convention delegates loyal to Trump — and keeping them in line during the formal nomination process.

This effort is not unusual. Less controversial incumbent presidents have courted delegates and charted their conventions. Some GOP operatives close to Trump deny that his team is concerned about possible primary challengers, insisting that the worriers are unnecessarily anxious.

“What this is about is ensuring that there is as much unification in the party as possible,” a source close to the Trump campaign said. “In 2016, Trump by his very nature disrupted the Republican establishment, and so this time around the Trump campaign is smartly putting a premium on healing old wounds and unifying the state parties solidly behind the president.”

Under RNC rules, a primary challenger need only win a plurality of delegates in nominating contests in five states or U.S. territories, Washington, D.C., or some combination, to get a vote on the convention floor. Existing rules technically prohibit any changes to these regulations inside of a presidential cycle, which begins after the midterms. But as a private organization, the RNC could in fact make any changes it wants at any time.

But that might be counterproductive, suggesting the party is scared Trump can’t handle a primary. Some Trump loyalists argue the RNC dropped the ball, that the time to adjust party rules was before the midterm elections, before the presidential race was essentially underway.

For instance, some saw weakness when the South Carolina GOP confirmed this week that it might cancel its 2020 primary to further the president’s re-election.

Some Republican insiders and state party officials are examining how they might mitigate speed bumps that arise during primary season.

In addition to South Carolina Republicans mulling the cancellation of their primary, Trump allies in New Hampshire are pushing the state GOP there to amend its bylaws so that it could formally endorse the president. The New Hampshire GOP’s state committee, about 500 activists, is set to vote on this proposal in late January.

Most party insiders in New Hampshire expect it to fail because of a desire to preserve New Hampshire’s unique role the “first in the nation” primary.

“I believe that the vote of the state committee will continue to preserve the party’s neutrality in primaries,” said Jennifer Horn, former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and longtime Trump critic.

That’s ultimately the route the Iowa GOP decided to go. After grappling with whether to endorse Trump and cancel its 2020 presidential caucus, the party decided it was more important to protect Iowa’s status as the host of the first nominating contest on the presidential calendar.

It appears the most likely, and effective, means of keeping a primary challenger from being considered in Charlotte would be to push through an RNC rules change during the week preceding the convention. The committee spends the week before every presidential convention hashing out final rules governing the nomination.

“You could tinker with the rules at the convention,” a veteran party insider said.