Five takeaways from Biden’s pivotal press conference

President Biden held a critical news conference at NATO’s Washington summit on Thursday evening as the fate of his reelection campaign hangs in the balance.

The event came exactly two weeks after the disastrous debate performance in Atlanta that sent Democrats into a frenzy of panic and prompted a number of lawmakers to urge the president to stand aside. It’s a crisis that Biden has not yet weathered.

The news conference was an hour-long walk on a high wire.

Advisers hoped Biden would reassure his party with a performance showing him in command on the world stage. Another collapse would surely have spelt the end of his campaign.

In the end, the news conference didn’t hit either of those extremes.