Barack Obama: “Chief Judge Frances Marie Tydingco-Gatewood has had a distinguished legal career and I am honored to ask her to continue…”

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”.

Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.

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