Hillary Clinton was in Chicago this week promoting her book, and as the Washington Post noted, she raised a notable observation about some of her critics.

[Clinton] quipped about conservative media outlets’ preoccupation with a vanquished presidential candidate while big news surrounded the one who won. “All the networks except Fox are reporting what’s really going on…. It appears they don’t know I’m not president,” tweeted NBC News politics reporter Alex Seitz-Wald, quoting Clinton, who held an event at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on Monday night.

This struck a chord because it’s true in a rather literal sense. One former Trump aide appeared in conservative media over the weekend and called for increased scrutiny of Hillary Clinton’s administration, which, the last time I checked, does not exist.

Two days later, another Trump ally in conservative media referred to “President Clinton” – and he was referring to Hillary, not Bill.

Of course, it’s not just media personalities who seem confused. Donald Trump can’t stop talking and tweeting about his former rival. The president’s aides appear fixated on Clinton. Congressional Republicans, who ostensibly have responsibility to oversee the executive branch, are launching investigations into Clinton.

“It appears they don’t know I’m not president” is a phrase with surprisingly broad applicability.

I sometimes wonder if both sides would’ve been more satisfied if the election had gone the other way. Trump could whine about Clinton full time without the burdens of governing; his allies could focus their attention on a White House that exists, rather than a former cabinet secretary who left public office five years ago; and Democrats would be pleased to have at least some control over the levers of federal power.