I created a new project using the 2D Mobile Core template and then attempted to build it for Android platform. Had some build errors (something with Adaptive Performance, then something with not being able to access the SDK, and other errors), and after trying to fix them for a couple of hours I decided it’s a rabbit hole so I went ahead and just removed the Mobile package (which includes Android Logcat, Adaptive Performance and Mobile Notifications packages) and built again. It completed the build successfully.
So apart from asking why would this be happening and if anyone has any knowledge about it, I am also exclaiming my astonishment as to how Unity can make a package SPECIFICALLY intended to help with mobile development experience and then make the mobile development experience even worse.