Panic sets in at White House over Trump's re-election prospects

President Trump's advisers are sounding alarms about his re-election prospects to a degree not heard since the president entered the White House three and a half years ago.

The state of play: Over the past week, widespread panic and pessimism have set in.

1. Early optimism about a booming economic comeback has dampened because of new coronavirus outbreaks across the country.
2. Early hopes that Trump’s return to rallies would bring back momentum has dampened because of the Tulsa rally debacle — and because advisers have recognized that Trump's elderly base is more fearful of the virus than previously realized.
3. Trump, relentlessly, keeps committing egregious self-defeating acts — the latest being tweeting a video in which an elderly supporter chants "white power."