Barack Obama: “I pledged to stand with Israel in this difficult time.”

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”.

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.

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