Barack Obama: “I concluded that a two-year freeze in the upward statutory adjustment of pay schedules is a necessary first step in our…”

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.

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.

When we choose, when we make that decision, I do believe – and there is evidence for this – that the world gets incrementally better, and that is a worthy goal and it’s worth fighting for.

If I had a blame pie for why politics is so polarised and why we're seeing a rise of populism in many places, it's because of that information that is going into our brains every day.