The intrigue: The finger-pointing began quickly among some White House officials over how Biden's inner circle had conducted the president's debate prep.

• "He was over-prepared and relying on minutiae when all that mattered was vigor and energy," one person in Biden's orbit told Axios. "They prepared him for the wrong debate. He was over-prepared when what he needed was rest. It's confounding."
• A former White House official argued that people needed to be fired, but lamented that probably wouldn't happen because Biden rarely dismisses people.