Why is my navigationPath not reaching views further along my stack?

I've implemented a navigation stack that appends the next view's view model so that the appending and .navigationDestination looks like the below. Whenever I press the continue button to add the viewModel to the path in the ContentView (the child of BumperScreen and the second in the path), the app just stops. I tried isolating the problem with a test project using the same methodology for navigation and have been able to navigate several views, almost infinitely. I cannot replicate this issue and am having a hard time understanding why one is working, and not the other.

struct BumperScreen: View {
    @State private var path = NavigationPath()
    @StateObject var viewModel: BumperScreenViewModel
    @StateObject var sheetManager = SheetManager()

    init(viewModel: @autoclosure @escaping () -> BumperScreenViewModel) {
        self._viewModel = .init(wrappedValue: viewModel())
    }

    var body: some View {
        if isDoneOnboarding {
            HomeView()
                .environmentObject(sheetManager)
        } else {
            NavigationStack(path: $path) {
                ZStack {
                    Color(.Gold)
                        .ignoresSafeArea()
                    VStack {
                        if show {
                            Spacer()
                            loadAnimation
                                .frame(width: 150, height: 150)
                                .task {
                                    try? await viewModel.getDataFromAPI()
                                    try? await Task.sleep(for: Duration.seconds(1))
                                    path.append(ContentViewViewModel())
                                    doneLoading.toggle()
                                    show.toggle()
                                }
                            Spacer()
                        } else if doneLoading {
                            EmptyView()
                        } else {
                            launchAnimation
                        }
                    }
                    .navigationDestination(for: ContentViewViewModel.self) { model in
                        ContentView(viewModel: model, path: $path)
                            .environmentObject(sheetManager)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Which leads the user to the second view

struct ContentView: View {
    @EnvironmentObject var sheetManager: SheetManager
    @StateObject var viewModel: ContentViewViewModel
    @Binding var path: NavigationPath

    var body: some View {
            ZStack {
                Color(.trulliGold)
                    .ignoresSafeArea()
                VStack {
                    Spacer()
                    headerStatement
                    Spacer()
                    VStack {
                        privacyPolicy
                        bluetoothPolicy
                        locationsPolicy
                        notificationsPolicy
                        apprunningPolicy
                    }
                    Spacer()
                    Spacer()
                    continueButton
                }
            }
            .popup(with: sheetManager)
            .navigationBarBackButtonHidden()
    }

    var continueButton: some View {
        Button(action: {
            print("pressed")
            path.append(WelcomeScreenViewViewModel())
        }) {
            Text("CONTINUE")
        }
        .navigationDestination(for: WelcomeScreenViewViewModel.self) { model in
            WelcomeScreenView(viewModel: model, path: $path)
        }
    }
}

Which goes to

struct WelcomeScreenView: View {
    @StateObject var viewModel: WelcomeScreenViewViewModel
    @Binding var path: NavigationPath

    var body: some View {
            ZStack {
                Color(.trulliGold)
                    .ignoresSafeArea()
                VStack(alignment: .center, spacing: 8) {
                    header
                    Spacer()
                    tabView
                    Spacer()
                    Spacer()
                    nextButton
                    closeButton
                }
            }
            .navigationDestination(for: SetupGuideSpeakerSearchViewViewModel.self) { model in
                SetupGuideSpeakerSearchView(viewModel: model, path: $path )
            }
        .navigationBarBackButtonHidden()
    }
}

I've tried isolating the issue to a debug project and have been able to navigate several views therein with no issue. debug project