What is Rancher Desktop doing in the background when it displays "Waiting for Kubernetes API ... <timestamp>" (on the bottom left)?

[navynight]

I am running Rancher Desktop on Windows 10.

Kubernetes version: v1.22.6 (stable)
Container Runtime: dockerd (moby)
WSL Integration: Checked box for Ubuntu 20.04

The "Waiting for Kubernetes API" message appear on the bottom left while Rancher Desktop is running. I also see a blue "loading" bar, but it appears to not change.
I am not doing anything else (no containers, etc.).

I closed the app, ended the tasks (processes) via Task Manager, and then reran Rancher Desktop for a few hours. Same behavior.

1. What is the app doing?
2. Is the app supposed to be "waiting" for Kubernetes API for this long?
3. Is this a bug I should report?