But even if the “Draft Mattis” brigade succeeds in developing a solid ground operation and getting Mattis on the ballot in states where he could win enough electoral votes to force Congress to choose the next commander-in-chief, the biggest piece of the puzzle remains missing.

While the nuts and bolts are being put into place by ballot access specialists, strategists and political consultants, the four-star general has offered no indication that he would accept such a challenge.

“There is absolutely no way,” said a source close to Mattis, who claims to have spoken with him shortly after the Daily Beast broke the news last week of the “Draft Mattis” the movement.

“When Washington gets nervous, they turn to idle chatter. But he’s not interested at all,” the source doubled down. “It’s wishful thinking for Republicans. Some people see this as Eisenhower-esque, but Eisenhower jumped in way before this.”

Mattis himself was far less explicit in an email to the Examiner.

“I really prefer to stay silent, as I have for the last several years,” he wrote.

The 65-year-old Marine Corps veteran has indeed been mum about any presidential ambitions he might privately have, but “silent” is perhaps the last word his admirers would use to describe him.

When Mattis was at the helm of the U.S. Central Command, his call sign was “chaos.” When he met with Iraqi military leaders in 2003, he famously informed them: “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you f—k with me, I’ll kill you all.”

The decorated general’s blunt language earned him deep respect among his troops and those looking to draft him as a third-party candidate believe it would attract the same response among voters who support Trump, but might reconsider if an experienced leader with a similar candor enters the race.

“Right now, there are certain challenges. The Iran policy is a disaster [and] Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy would be a continuation of [President] Obama’s. But Gen. Mattis is suited to handle those challenges,” John Noonan, a former national security advisor to ex-White House hopeful Jeb Bush, told the Examiner.

Noonan, who’s now involved with the movement to draft Mattis, continued: “He’s a strong leader. He’s well respected. He’s an honest guy. He’s straightforward. He’s exactly the type of outsider the American people are looking for right now.”

But the average American voter has no idea who Mattis is. And as Ross Perot’s former campaign manager explained, “If you do not have a national reputation that the public is aware of, you have to create one from scratch.”

“No offense to the general, but I was unfamiliar with him and I’m pretty politically astute,” Russ Verney, who ran Perot’s second presidential campaign in 1996, admitted in an interview. “If we were talking about somebody as well known as Donald Trump or Ross Perot, we don’t have to introduce them to the public. [But] in this case, you have to introduce the person as well as the strategy.”

Verney added, “It’s a very complicated idea that they have. It’s going to require an enormous amount of work to get the ballot access and an enormous amount of advertising dollars to acquaint the public with Gen. Mattis.”

As it’s written now, the “complicated idea” Noonan and others hope to turn into a reality relies on Mattis a) agreeing to enter the national spotlight as a presidential candidate and b) getting him on the ballot in states that could flip from Clinton to Trump if he’s a factor in the race, thus c) preventing both Clinton and Trump from reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

It’s a big hill to climb considering their candidate of choice hasn’t yet agreed to run. But that hasn’t stopped Noonan and company from formulating a path forward and examining the legal challenges that lie ahead.

“There are pieces going into place that would include legal challenges to Texas and North Carolina ballot access laws. Mattis does not need to get in the ballot in every state,” Noonan explained. “The effort will be built out in a way that is needed. The plan will be strong. It’s been well thought out and it is very real.”

Indeed, Mattis’ name wouldn’t need to be placed on the ballot in every state.

According to Richard Winger, a lifelong libertarian and the editor of Ballot Access News, the “Draft Mattis” folks could use minor party procedures in some states to get a new party on the ballot in the absence of Mattis’ commitment to running.

“In 39 states, there’s a procedure to get a new party on the ballot and the new party doesn’t need to show which candidate it plans to put forward,” Winger said.

He added, “It’s perfectly OK for a group like this to use the minor party procedures in some states and the independent candidate procedures in others” to create a party label that Mattis could run under in the future.

The problem is, that day might never come.