Going into 2020, Republicans appear to have coalesced around a strategy to keep Donald Trump in office: bait Democrats into nominating a far-left progressive, and thereby drive centrists back, screaming, into Trump’s open arms. The two biggest threats to this plan, G.O.P. insiders suggest, are Beto O’Rourke and Joe Biden, whom they see as more palatable in a general election than a socialist like Bernie Sanders.

There is already something of a plan in place to tank Beto, even if it’s not fully baked. Republicans figure they can play up suspicions on the left that O’Rourke, who previously drew donations from the pro-Republican business establishment, is a phony progressive who doesn’t really believe in anything besides his own celebrity. (The Club for Growth is already out with an ad decrying O’Rourke’s “white male privilege.”)

Biden, however, is another matter. Although he has yet to declare his candidacy, the former vice president consistently holds the lead in Democratic primary polling, and has the highest net favorability rating of any potential candidate in the mix. Trump, according to Politico, is rightly concerned. Behind closed doors, he reportedly fixates on how he would perform in a head-to-head matchup against Biden, and has recently “peppered” aides with questions about Biden’s polling and what it would mean for a general election.

The president’s advisers are reportedly reassuring him that Biden won’t make it that far. Sanders is close on Biden’s heels, as are a number of loud-and-proud progressives like Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and rising star Pete Buttigieg. Biden, these advisers say, is an unwanted relic from a white man’s era, lacking the sensitivity to navigate the political minefield that is the progressive left.