Biden privately remains torn between defiance and acceptance amid calls to step aside

WASHINGTON — In recent conversations with aides, family members and allies outside the White House, President Joe Biden has vacillated between acceptance and defiance in the face of the seismic shift in his political standing within his own party, according to four people familiar with the matter.

In some discussions, Biden has acknowledged that the blowback from his debate performance last week may grow too large to overcome, while in others he has been completely dismissive of any notion that he might walk away from his re-election campaign, these people said.

Some members of the president’s family — particularly first lady Jill Biden and their son Hunter Biden — are urging him to make changes to his staff and are increasingly conveying their views about his campaign’s strategy in an attempt to resuscitate his flailing campaign, three people familiar with the matter said.

Biden’s sister, Valerie Owens, is traveling to Washington on Thursday to join other family members at the White House for the July Fourth holiday, but she will also have face-to-face meetings about her brother’s campaign, according to a person familiar with her plans.

Biden family members have privately pointed fingers at some of his longtime aides over his disastrous debate. They have discussed whether he should fire senior White House adviser Anita Dunn, for instance, and possibly even her husband, Bob Bauer, who is Biden’s personal lawyer, two people familiar with the matter said.

Dunn and Bauer were early backers of Biden’s 2020 campaign after they showed support for his running in 2016, which he ultimately declined to do. They were among the more than a dozen Biden aides who were involved in days of preparing him for last week’s debate, with