Barack Obama: “I have great confidence in the Prime Minister's leadership and his ability to navigate Italy through this difficult…”

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.

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.

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.

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