As the old saying goes, if the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If both the facts and the law are against you, pound the table and yell.

Welcome to the central organizing principle of the Trump White House. As the Russia investigation burrows closer to the Oval Office, the president, his staff, his collaborators in Congress and his defenders in the right-wing media are sparing no institution in their quest to undermine it. Look, a mole!

President Trump sank to a new low on Sunday, tweeting, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

Putting aside the cartoonish language (“I hereby demand”? Really?), consider the seriousness of the threat posed by a president ordering federal law enforcement officials to investigate the people who are investigating him.