The president is notorious for his habit of projection. In his latest tweets from yesterday and this morning, he took this predilection to an extreme, angrily accusing both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama of “collusion.”

In the case of Clinton, she’s apparently guilty of colluding with her own party:

Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2017

With Obama, there is the murky suggestion that he colluded with the Russians by not doing to enough to stop Russian interference in the 2016 election:

The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

...and did not want to "rock the boat." He didn't "choke," he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

..under a magnifying glass, they have zero "tapes" of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

Saying that Obama “colluded or obstructed” is almost too transparent in its desire to throw back at Democrats the same critiques that Trump is facing. At the risk of being banal, it has to be said that the DNC might have had their thumb on the scale for Hillary Clinton, but that is not collusion—it is favoritism. Similarly, Obama failing to prevent Russian interference in the election is not collusion.

It’s a sign of Trump’s desperation that he is waging war with the common meaning of words. To re-work an old saying: If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pick a fight with the dictionary.