Barack Obama: “An emergency exists in the State of Oklahoma and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local response efforts.”

It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say.

People need to “rediscover what’s the story we tell about how we’re going to live together, and see each other, and recognise each other, and disagree, and yet, still care for each other”.

I’m going to insist that we can do better than we’re doing right now.

The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.