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In the days after President JOE BIDEN’s catastrophic debate performance, Latino administration officials had some feedback for JULIE CHÁVEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Biden’s campaign manager.

In the “Latinx Biden 46” group chat, which includes nearly 450 current and former Latino Biden administration officials, some staffers wanted Rodríguez to know that as bad as the debate was, Biden’s problems with voters in their communities run deep and predate his poor performance in Atlanta.

“Compadres and comadres are losing faith. Small Latine business owners are whispering against Biden,” JOHNATHAN GARZA wrote in the chat, according to screenshots shared with West Wing Playbook. “Are there any serious conversations about how to increase Latino vote engagement? And is there anyone really leading the spear? Porque we ain’t seeing those efforts on the ground. The streets have lost their faith in Biden and the political elite that run DC and the news.”

Former Texas congressional candidate CANDACE VALENZUELA chimed in: “I was seeing this before the debate. Honestly a lot of folks feeling disillusioned.”

Rodríguez, who was the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs before moving to the campaign, responded: “You all need to be our messengers and ambassadors out there. If you need talking points go to joebiden.com/latino or check out all of the Spanish, English, Spanglish ads we’ve been pushing since Aug.”

“You need to do your part and not wait to be asked because we all know what’s at stake and we’re providing you all with the tools to take action,” she continued, adding that she would ask MICHELLE VILLEGAS, the campaign’s Latino engagement director, to set up a conference call for the group so they could “see our pathways to victory and the historic investments we’re making.”

More than two dozen people in the chat responded to Rodríguez’s message with supportive emojis (lots of hearts). One person wrote that someone as senior as Rodríguez taking the time to respond “shows that she actually cares and hears you.” Valenzuela also wrote that she’d been encouraged by the campaign’s ad blitz during the Copa América soccer tournament.

But others were pissed off.

To some of the current and former staffers in the chat, Rodríguez’s response was baffling and, worse, belittling. They felt like Rodríguez was unwilling to seriously engage with their concerns and found her suggestion that it was on them to fix what many fear is a deeply flawed campaign — and candidate — to be demoralizing.

The mini tempest within the private communications channel reflected the post-debate recriminations spreading throughout Democratic circles. And Rodríguez’s response accentuates Democrats’ broader frustrations in the aftermath of the debate: that Biden’s senior staff is dismissive of legitimate concerns about his candidacy, impervious to feedback or unwilling to countenance warnings that they might not be doing everything right.

Further, it was representative of how some Democrats have felt gaslighted by a Biden team that remains confident about the election despite numerous metrics that appear to be cause for concern. For months, polls have shown Biden trailing Trump and losing support among Latino voters — a key part of his 2020 winning coalition. Rodríguez’s defensiveness on the matter did not sit well.

“I am genuinely tired of leadership telling us to do our part when ground troops have always carried the burden for leadership[’s] mistakes higher up,” Garza shot back.

Rodríguez replied: “It’s clear you’re not engaged, but hopefully others on the chain are ready to be a part of Team Biden-Harris because I am leadership and we at the Biden-Harris campaign will continue to lift our community to new heights and ensure they have the resources to build power.”

Another person in the chat who knows Rodríguez personally described her to West Wing Playbook as someone who “embodies the organizing spirit we all need right now.”

“Channeling your energy to volunteering and getting a part of this moment in the good and bad times is what is going to win this race. And I can personally tell you I’ve heard from countless Latino Bidenworld folks who feel the same way,” the person said.

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POTUS PUZZLER

How many presidents have decided not to run for reelection?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE: Despite the Biden team’s efforts to contain the fallout from last week’s debate, the dam of Democratic support for him is starting to spring holes. Rep. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-Texas) on Tuesday became the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to withdraw from the race: “Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

Perhaps more importantly, former House Speaker NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) told MSNBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL that it’s a “legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?” She noted that the same question should be asked of DONALD TRUMP.

Pelosi is one of the few party stalwarts — outside the president’s family and close advisers — whose words will carry real weight with Biden. Another in that category, Rep. JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.), wouldn’t question Biden’s place atop the ticket. But he did respond to hypotheticals about the president’s path forward during his own MSNBC appearance, saying that he would support Vice President KAMALA HARRIS if Biden “were to step aside.”

Former Rep. TIM RYAN (D-Ohio), a 2020 presidential hopeful, explicitly called for Harris to step in as the Democratic nominee. “Joe Biden's debate performance was deeply troubling. But it isn't just about a 90-minute debate and a terrible performance,” Ryan wrote in Newsweek. Rep. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-Ill.) said Tuesday that Biden should consider how his place on the ticket would impact Democrats’ chances in November, echoing Ryan on the shaky debate. “We have to be honest with ourselves that it wasn’t just a horrible night,” Quigley told CNN’s KASIE HUNT.

And, in an interview with Semafor on Monday, Sen. PETER WELCH (D-Vt.) criticized the Biden campaign for its aggressive attempt to squash people’s concerns. “The campaign has raised the concerns themselves,” Welch said. “So then to be dismissive of others who raise those concerns, I think it’s inappropriate.”

EXPOSURE THERAPY: As pressure mounts, the president’s team is heeding calls from several Democrats to have him sit for a major interview to show he can handle questions better than he did last week. ABC News says Biden will sit down with anchor GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on Friday for a wide-ranging interview that will air Sunday — though excerpts are planned for release throughout the weekend, starting on Friday evening.

It’s the second time in a month that Biden’s team has chosen ABC for an interview, after World News Tonight anchor DAVID MUIR sat down with Biden on the D-Day anniversary in France — underlining a clear preference for the network that senior aides believe has been the fairest in its overall treatment of Biden and framing of the 2024 election.

Biden will also travel Friday to Madison, Wisconsin, for an event, and to Philadelphia on Sunday, the White House announced. Next week, he'll hold a full solo press conference during the NATO summit in Washington, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE told reporters on Tuesday.

GOVS GET A PRIVATE AUDIENCE: Biden will meet with a group of Democratic governors on Wednesday. A few of them, including DGA Chair TIM WALZ of Minnesota, will attend in person and others virtually, our ELENA SCHNEIDER reports. Democratic governors, some of whom joined a private call on Monday, are divided over whether Biden should stay in the race. And, according to one person familiar with the call, they “sound like any other group of elected Democratic officials right now — utter frustration and nobody thinks the campaign is handling it the right way.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Slim pickings these days. But this piece by Bloomberg’s MACKENZIE HAWKINS and COURTNEY ROZEN highlights the Biden administration’s decision Tuesday to award $504 million in funding for 12 regional technology hubs to expand research in artificial intelligence, semiconductor manufacturing and clean energy. Among the recipients are hubs in New York, Florida, Nevada and South Carolina.

Assistant press secretary ROBYN PATTERSON shared the piece on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This devastating New York Times piece by PETER BAKER, DAVID SANGER, ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and KATIE ROGERS about how in the past few months, people who have spent time with the president behind closed doors have “noticed that [Biden] increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations” — poking holes in the White House’s assertion that the CNN debate was simply a “bad night” for the president.

The NYT team reports that people close to Biden felt that his lapses “seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.” Biden was so drained after back-to-back foreign trips that his staff cut debate prep short by two days so he could have some downtime at his beach house. When Biden did arrive at Camp David for six days of debate prep, those preparations wouldn’t begin until 11 a.m. and Biden was given time for an afternoon nap each day.

WHAT SENIOR STAFF DON’T WANT YOU TO READ: Long before the president’s meltdown in last week’s debate, his senior team’s management of him had grown increasingly protective as his term labored on. A group of advisers building a strict cocoon around him, limiting his exposure to the media, centralizing decision-making and shunning outside advice, Eli, Elena, JONATHAN LEMIRE and ADAM CANCRYN report.

Some senior officials have even gone to great lengths to curate the information presented to Biden in formal briefings. “It’s like, ‘You can’t include that, that will set him off,’ or ‘Put that in, he likes that,’” said one senior administration official. “It’s a Rorschach test, not a briefing. Because he is not a pleasant person to be around when he’s being briefed. It’s very difficult, and people are scared shitless of him.”

CAMPAIGN HQ

OH, PUCK: Leaked polling obtained by Puck’s PETER HAMBY from OpenLabs — a progressive nonprofit that conducts polling for Democratic groups, including Future Forward, the preferred super PAC for the Biden campaign — is showing nightmare numbers for the Biden team in not only key battleground states, but typically Democratic strongholds like New Hampshire, Virginia and New Mexico. The poll found that 40 percent of Biden voters in 2020 now believe that he should suspend his campaign.

Vice President Harris, Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER, California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM and Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG all poll ahead of Biden in every battleground state.

PUT ME IN, COACH: This CNN poll shows Harris within striking distance of Donald Trump: 47 percent of registered voters support Trump and 45 percent support Harris, a result within the margin of error that suggests there is no clear leader under such a scenario. Meanwhile, Trump’s lead over Biden is at six points, not statistically different from the Harris result and unchanged from CNN’s national poll in April.

In the same poll, three-quarters of voters say Democrats would have a better shot at holding the presidency if someone else were the nominee.

AT LEAST THEY’VE GOT MONEY: The Biden campaign raised $127 million last month, a nearly 50 percent increase compared to the previous month, Elena and JESSICA PIPER report. It’s a bright spot for the campaign as it attempts to cool concerns over the president’s ability to serve, and it helps the incumbent president end the second quarter on a financial high note. That bested Trump, who raised $112 million, his campaign said.

FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS: In the five days since Thursday’s debate, the Biden campaign has been on a digital blitz, Jessica also reports. The campaign sent nearly twice as many emails as usual, many of them focused on the debate and what Donald Trump said on stage. Biden’s leading small-dollar fundraising operation also spent 10 times as much on Facebook and Instagram ads the day after the debate compared to an average day over the past few months.

THE BUREAUCRATS

AND THEN THERE’S GAZA: In the midst of all these debate repercussions, another official resigned on Tuesday, citing the administration’s support of Israel. MARYAM HASSANEIN, a special assistant in the interior department, announced the resignation on X this afternoon, writing that the administration is “continuing to fund and enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”

PERSONNEL MOVES: ALEXIA SANCHEZ is now a policy adviser for Racial and Economic Justice to the Domestic Policy Council. She most recently served as special assistant to the Gender Policy Council.

MOVES AT OSTP: ASAD RAMZANALI has been promoted to special assistant to the president and chief of staff and deputy director for strategy in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. STEVE WELBY has been promoted to special assistant to the president and OSTP deputy director for national security. KEI KOIZUMI has also been promoted to special assistant to the president and OSTP principal deputy director for science, society and policy.

Agenda Setting

IT’S REALLY F--KING HOT OUT: President Biden on Tuesday announced the first-ever federal rule to protect workers from extreme heat, amid a sweltering summer that scientists expect to be one of the hottest ever recorded, our ARIEL WITTENBERG reports. The regulation, which would cover an estimated 35 million workers, won’t be finalized until at least 2026.

AND TO CLOSE OUT THE NEWS DAY … The Central Intelligence Agency mishandled cases of sexual assault and workplace harassment within its ranks, according to an internal review conducted at the direction of the Senate. Agency officials have “not been wholly successful in preventing, or efficiently and effectively responding to, workplace harassment and sexual assault incidents,” CIA Inspector General ROBIN ASHTON said in a statement to our DANIEL LIPPMAN, describing the review.

What We're Reading

D.N.C. Member Pitches Process to Replace Biden as Nominee in Memo to Party Chair (NYT’s Jennifer Medina)

Apocalypse Not (The Atlantic’s David Frum)

Savior Complex (NYRB’s Fintan O’Toole)

We Can’t Unsee What We Saw (Slate’s Hillary Frey)

RFK Jr.’s Family Doesn’t Want Him to Run. Even They May Not Know His Darkest Secrets. (Vanity Fair’s Joe Hagan)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

Depends on whom you ask. JAMES POLK, JAMES BUCHANAN and RUTHERFORD HAYES all served four years, making the call not to pursue another stint. CALVIN COOLIDGE took over when WARREN HARDING died in 1923, won the next election in his own right, but declined to run again. Like Coolidge, HARRY TRUMAN took the helms when FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT died 82 days into the presidency, won his own election in 1949 and decided not to run again in 1952. LYNDON B. JOHNSON followed the same pattern.

So, to round up: three only served four years, while another three decided not to pursue a second elected term.

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Steve Shepard and Rishika Dugyala.