Barack Obama: “Support for human rights and democracy goes beyond idealism. It is a matter of national security.”

It is a decision about how do we face and embrace this finite amount of time we have on the planet.

A drift towards extremism was "not inevitable

The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views.

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.