President Donald Trump has started speaking like someone who has run the numbers and doesn’t like what they suggest. And with Democrats holding a modest but steady edge ahead of November — and Trump openly warning supporters that losing the midterms would mean “very bad things” for his ag enda — the stakes are obvious. Flip the House and impeachment chatter stops being theoretical. U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance (R) participate in a ceremony at Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery to mark Veterans Day on November 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Earlier this year, standing at the White House podium, Trump made clear where he thinks the problem lies. It isn’t performance, he suggested. It’s perception. “I blame ourselves,” Trump said. “We’re not promoting…” That mindset that reality can be reshaped with the right volume has hardened into strategy. ‘Has Anyone Told Him?’: Trump Hallucinates a Verdict for His Alleged Bad Deeds — and Doesn’t Seem to Realize What He Just Admitted From the official White House account to Vice President JD Vance on national television, the administration has moved in lockstep, insisting momentum is on their side even as polling and political math tell a more complicated story. On Monday, the White House rolled out a Trump-branded message meant to shut down whispers and replace them with certainty. Declaring the country was thriving, critics were lying, and momentum remained firmly on his side. The post opened with a bold headline: “Don’t Be a Panican. We’re Winning — and We’re Not Slowing Down.” What followed was a full-throated declaration of dominance. “Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, this Administration is smashing through the chaos and destruction left by Democrats and unleashing the most aggressive pursuit of the America First agenda in history,” the message read, accusing the “Fake News and Radical Left” of trying to “distract, depress, and divide.” It promised that “America is safer, stronger, richer, and more secure than at any point in decades,” urged supporters not to “take the bait,” and ticked through a list of wins — markets up, border enforcement, crime reductions, cost-of-living improvements — all framed as proof that “new victories pour in daily.” Then it repeated the phrase that instantly became the flashpoint: “Don’t be a Panican; America is winning again — and more victories are coming.” View on Threads Within minutes, social media users began dissecting the tone. One wrote, “Nothing calms people down like specifically telling them not to panic.”  Another added, “Nothing says we’re not desperate fascists like a “Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears” email” Others mocked the branding, “WTF is a “panican?” Is that like a panicked Pelican or a mannequin dressed like Peter Pan?” One reaction cut straight to the point: “This sh—t sounds downright deranged. Like unhinged to the third degree.” And one voice summed up simply, “He’s scared.” View on Threads What people couldn’t ignore was the timing. Then Vance stepped in — and the temperature shifted again. During a Fox News interview, anchor Martha MacCallum pointed to a January poll showing Democrats ahead 52 to 46 on congressional preference. “We’ve got a long way to go, but obviously that number would not be good for the majority,” she noted. “That would not be good,” Vance admitted — before immediately undercutting the numbers. “As much as we love Fox News, we always think Fox News has the worst polling,” he said. “Me and the president agree on that. I’m sorry. It’s true.” MacCallum pushed back, noting other polls showed similar results. But Vance pivoted. “If you go back to the Biden administration, the average American lost about $3,000 in take-home pay during the four years Democrats were in charge,” he said. “In the first year of the Trump administration, average Americans have gained about $1,200.” He framed the midterms as a choice between “people who burned down the house” and doubling down on Trump’s leadership. View on Threads To critics, it wasn’t reassurance. It was escalation. “Make no mistake. Dems win Congress and this administration is effectively over. Impeachment is the least of their worries,” one Threads user wrote. Another added, “Vance …. Anything that disagrees with Trump’s false narrative can’t be factual. The truth is nothing Trump says is EVER factual.” And one commenter captured the mood in a single line, “This administration refuses to admit it’s going bald.” Vance’s exchange echoed the same dynamic as the White House post: unfavorable data dismissed, broader claims presented as definitive proof of momentum, and the midterms framed as existential. And the administration’s sweeping list of accomplishments comes back into focus. The White House touted a “125-year low” in the murder rate and highlighted Washington, D.C.’s three-week stretch without a homicide as proof of a national turnaround. But criminologists note year-to-year crime trends fluctuate regionally and reflect local enforcement and post-pandemic normalization — not a single federal lever. It boasted of nine straight months of “ZERO illegal border crossings,” though federal data shows steep declines, not literal zero encounters — a distinction between total crossings and interior releases that the post blurred. It credited market highs and retirement account gains directly to presidential leadership, even as analysts routinely caution that Wall Street moves reflect global pressures, Federal Reserve policy and long-cycle economic forces beyond one administration. It framed health care policy shifts as the result of “relentless pressure,” though institutions involved cited legal and medical reviews rather than political directives. None of these claims were accompanied by qualifiers. When the official account of the presidency publishes that kind of message — complete with invented slogans and sweeping metrics — and the vice president follows by dismissing polling that suggests vulnerability, it does more than attempt reassurance. It reveals how central the midterms have become to the administration’s posture and how tightly narrative control is being gripped with less than a year before voters decide whether that control continues. ‘Impeachment Is the Least of Their Worries’: White House Hits Publish on Something So Unhinged Even JD Vance Felt the Need to Jump In — and That’s When It Got Worse ...read more read less