Republicans are tip-toeing around Trump as they maneuver to replace him as the face of the party: report

In a piece for New York Magazine, Ben Jacobs wrote that Republicans hoping to secure the 2024 presidential nomination are actively campaigning for the spot, but with one eye looking over their shoulder out of fear they may displease Donald Trump who has made rumblings he may make another run.

With Trump's prospects of being the GOP nominee in 2024 hinging on his legal problems, GOPer's with any hope of stepping in if he is out of the picture have headed out to early primary states to make the case for themselves -- with some GOP strategists wondering if Trump could win even if he did run.

According to Jacobs, "... there's something unusual about the invisible primary this time: the lurking presence of Trump. Potential candidates have to navigate not just the potential for him to run again for the Republican nomination in 2024, but the risk of doing anything to raise the ire of the South Florida retiree."

"In conversations with over a dozen Republican activists and operatives, both in early states and nationally, everyone thought that there was a chance that the former president could run again and everyone had their own odds," he wrote. "Some thought it was unlikely, some thought it was likely but the one thing everyone agreed upon is that Trump's final decision was impossible to predict and to plan for. One Republican close to a potential 2024 candidate compared it to 'being hit by a meteor. There's nothing you can do to control that.'"

According to one campaign consultant, fear of Trump may be overblown and more than a few Republicans worry that he could win the nomination and then lose again like he did in 2020.

"Even the base that loves Trump is not so sure he should run," explained Republican activist Bob Vander Plaats. "I don't know that he's going to be able to win. He'll be able to win the primary but will he win the general? And the calculation of so many of the base is that we love what President Trump has done … but we need to win."

Added one GOP operative who remained anonymous, "People are showing up and listening to other potential candidates and they are going to keep coming out. There is a lot of fertile ground for a Republican not named Trump."

Veteran Republican strategist John Brabender -- a former adviser to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) -- explained, "The group of people who believe wholeheartedly in the Trump agenda and thought his style and manner was exactly what we needed to have happen, versus the group that was wholeheartedly in support with his agenda but uncomfortable with his style and manner."

According to Jacobs, the list of potential contenders who have appeared or will be appearing in pivotal Iowa includes: Tom Cotton, Nikki Haley, Kristi Noem, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Rick Scott, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Marco Rubio, and Marjorie Taylor Greene -- with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis currently at the top of the heap with the caveat that, "With a re-election bid coming up in the perpetually purple state of Florida and the ever-watchful eye of Trump upon him, DeSantis has made clear that he is not traveling to early states in the foreseeable future."

You can read more here.