In the hierarchy of Donald Trump’s put-downs, “choker” is one of the worst things he can label someone. Trump deploys the sports-world diss to paint his adversaries as weak-kneed losers who crack under pressure like a jittery golfer missing a two-foot putt. Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz––all chokers, according to Trump. So it’s ironic how the former president’s allies are describing the way he has blown his once commanding lead in the presidential race. “It’s like he’s choosing to lose,” a frustrated Republican close to the campaign said.

Trump has been in a self-destructive spiral since the moment Democrats replaced Joe Biden with Kamala Harris. Trump’s descent began when he made a racist claim at a July 31 conference for Black journalists, saying that Harris changed her identity for political gain (“Now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump claimed). At a rally in Georgia a few days later, Trump ranted for nearly 10 minutes about the state’s popular Republican governor, Brian Kemp, whom Trump blamed for his 2020 loss to Biden. “Little Brian, little Brian Kemp. Bad guy,” Trump fumed. On Truth Social, Trump floated unhinged, evidence-free claims, such as his theories that Biden might crash the Democratic National Convention to take the nomination back and that Harris and Democrats are running a psyop by creating AI videos and images of the vice president’s packed rallies. “It’s nuts,” a Trump friend told me.

Republican donors and Trump campaign officials are struggling to understand why Trump seems to be sabotaging his own candidacy. One theory, according to sources, is that Trump has been experiencing trauma from his near-death experience following the assassination attempt at the rally last month in Butler, Pennsylvania. “He’s been watching that seven-second clip of how close he was to getting shot right in the head—over and over and over again,” the Republican close to the campaign said. “He may actually legit have PTSD.” A campaign official confirmed that the shooting continues to weigh on Trump. “He’s been through a lot,” the official said. (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)

Another theory is that Trump can’t let go of the fact that Biden dropped out. “They cheated by swapping Biden,” Trump has told people, according to a person who recently spent time with the Republican presidential nominee. The Trump campaign believed that Harris’s honeymoon would fade, but instead, the opposite has happened: Her momentum is surging. Trump’s advisers have implored him to launch policy attacks on Harris instead of using juvenile nicknames like Laffin Kamala and Kamabla. Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone is among those who want Trump to change tactics. “I do think it’s counterproductive to call her stupid,” he told me. Trump has rejected his team’s advice. According to the Republican close to the campaign, Trump tells his advisers: “I know what I’m doing.”