Last month, as Democrats weighed replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, reports emerged that the Trump campaign did not want the president to drop out of the race. This made perfect sense given that 1) Donald Trump was ahead in the polls and 2) their main line of attack—that Biden was too old and not physically up to the task—was clearly working. Unfortunately for Trump, Biden was replaced—and so the ex-president is majorly flailing in the face of his new competition.

Politico reports that Republicans are panicking over Trump’s showing against Kamala Harris, which has so far involved calling the vice president “dumb,” claiming she suddenly “became a Black person,” and spelling her name “Kamabla.” None of this behavior appears to be helping his chances of getting reelected, and according to party insiders, it’s stemming from the fact that he’s absolutely freaked out about going toe-to-toe with someone who he can’t just claim has dementia.

“This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,” Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and onetime Trump administration official, told Politico. “This is a guy who cut through the Republican primary like a knife through butter. This is a guy who pummeled a semiconscious president in a debate and literally out of a race. And now this is a guy who cannot come to grips with a competitive presidential race that would require discipline and effective messaging. And we’re seeing a candidate and a campaign absolutely melt down.” As a reminder, last week Trump appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists and told members that the VP, who attended a historically Black college, was only Indian until a few years ago. He presumably thought this would help him with Black voters, but it only demonstrated what many people have long known: that he’s not very bright and doesn’t know how race works.

All of this is leaving Republicans hoping that the ex-president will realize the error of his ways and get his shit together. And considering that would effectively require him to receive a personality transplant overnight, not everyone is convinced it’s possible. “I think we are long past the time where we thought he could maybe rein in his worst angels, and he’s going to keep doing this and no amount of polling data or advice from people close to him will change him,” Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist, told Politico. “He’s a 78-year-old guy stuck in his ways. And this has been his way for decades.”