Is there any evidence that talking about a possible recession with your grandmother or uncle could actually cause a recession to happen? Are recessions like Tinker Bell, they only exist if you believe in them?
Multiple trade wars precipitated by the current president certainly impact the US economy (and the global one). The coming global downturn will be almost entirely self-inflicted, but it won't be down to gossip about a possible recession, it'll be down to massive trade barriers imposed by fiat.
Trade wars are bad and hard to win.
As a further example, during the financial crisis many banks in perfectly healthy condition were forced to take bailouts so as not to inflame the perception that certain banks could not be trusted.
The 2018 us stock market downturn comes to mind as a panic that didn't result in a recession because there was no actual market failure causing actual economic harm outside of pure speculation.
On the flipside, the economy can be stimulated merely by sentiment; if everything thinks things will get better, they invest and spend.
The concept is similar to the 'animal spirits' that Keynes spoke of.