The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that “Republican lawmakers say the Trump campaign was caught off guard by President Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid and that the former president’s team has faltered in responding to the surge of momentum behind Vice President Harris.”

And they’re critical of the lack of planning: “Some Republican senators think former President Trump should have seen the swap atop the Democrat ticket coming and crafted a messaging and political strategy weeks ago.”

For example: “They see Trump’s awkward discussion about Harris’s racial heritage at the National Association of Black Journalists convention as a clear sign the Trump campaign hasn’t yet hammered out a workable strategy for the battle against Harris.”

Another example: “GOP lawmakers also view Trump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate as evidence that the former president didn’t expect Biden to drop out of the race. They worry Vance’s outspoken views on restricting abortion and his claim that ‘childless cat ladies’ run the country play right into the message that Harris and Democrats will center their campaign on in the fall.”

Read the full reporting: ‘GOP senators say Trump caught ‘off guard’ by Harris’s strength’

Speaking of Vance: Usha Vance defended her husband amid broad criticism over his past “childless cat ladies” quip, arguing in an interview that aired this morning on “Fox and Friends” that the context of his past remarks was being ignored.

She argued the broader point Vance was making was that it is “really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder.” Full story on her interview.

Hurricane Debby made landfall this morning in the Florida Big Bend, reaching 80 mph winds.

💡 Weather Channel updates

⌚ Debby’s current timing and path

Ugh: This image of the storm’s rainfall is … not great. Axios writes that Hurricane Debby is “posing a nightmare scenario for flooding across the Southeast this week.”