Jeez, Obama is grumpy today.

What is it with George W. this week? He's in a mood.

Said no-one, ever.

And yet in 2018, the President's temper is front page news.

"Yes, he's pissed — at damn near everyone," an unnamed White House aide said.

"Splenetic", used to describe @realdonaldtrump's tweets in the Washington Post, is our word of the week.

Sple.net.ic. Adjective. Bad-tempered; spiteful.

Synonyms: bad-tempered, ill-tempered, angry, cross, peevish, petulant, pettish, irritable, irascible, choleric, dyspeptic, testy, tetchy, snappish, waspish, crotchety, crabby, querulous, resentful, rancorous, bilious.

So, why is Donald Trump so darn grumpy?

Well, while the Republicans did okayyyy in the midterms, several of the lingering tight races have gone the Democrats' way, re-upping the "blue wave" marketing that they've been pushing for months (they now look like gaining about 38 house seats).

By extension, the President is about to be avalanched with a whole lot of House Democrat-led investigations into his administration's behaviour, and his CEO-like freedoms will be severely curtailed.

Having spent the campaign criss-crossing the country lapping up adulation from his supporters at rock star-style rallies, he's back to the serious business of governing ahead of a likely toxic run-up to 2020.

His wife is also mad at him and has publicly lashed out at one of his national security advisers.

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On Tuesday, first lady Melania Trump issued a highly unusual public statement about Mira Ricardel, saying:

"It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that (Ricardel) no longer deserves the honour of serving in this White House."

It left us all wondering: Who the heck is Mira Ricardel?

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The deputy national security adviser served as John Bolton's White House muscle, dealing with everyone from the defense secretary to the national security council.

But what put Ricardel over the line after seven months in office were allegations that she was gossiping about FLOTUS. Some claim Ricardel threatened to pull resources for her trip to Africa last month because she wasn't given a seat on the plane.

One aide alleged Ricardel acts like "a bully".

And coincidentally, anti-bullying is one of the key issues on which the first lady has pegged her "Be Best" platform.

On Wednesday, the White House said Ricardel would leave her post but would remain in the administration.

Once again, the President has divided staff and has some decisions to make.

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Want to know who else is in the firing line? Here's a summary.

The biggest scalp in this group would be Chief of Staff John Kelly.

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Apart from anything else, Kelly is aligned with Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen who looks to be on the block.

But the President has been tossing around the idea of firing Kelly for months.

As one aide put it:

"Nothing is ever real until he sends the tweet."

On top of all of this the administration is being sued by CNN

The President's also been called out for his treatment of female, African American journalists, suggesting that reporter Abby Phillip asks "stupid" questions and calling another a "loser".

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He (apparently) yelled at British PM Theresa May on the phone on Air Force One.

Oh, and he went to France, was publicly trolled over declaring himself a nationalist by none other than the French President and was then horribly embarrassed and criticised for disrespecting veterans when he didn't visit a war cemetery because it was raining.

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"This is a level of insanity I've never seen before," one former West Wing staffer told Vanity Fair.

"He's under a tremendous amount of mental stress," one prominent Republican said.

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So. Several reasons to be grumpy. Take your pick.

The deepest thorn in the President's side? The Mueller report

Which (surely) has to drop soon, given the President had reportedly spent a big chunk of this week drafting answers to questions from the Special Counsel. You can't imagine that helped his mood.

He doesn't know what's in it but in part he'll be concerned about implications for his business and his family, especially his sons.

We haven't had any luck getting an answer from the special counsel about when the report is coming, but the President's anxiety about it is plain for all to see.

Exhibit A...

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...B...

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...C...

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...D...

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Yikes.

A couple of qualifiers on the above:

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And, Robert Mueller did not work for Barack Obama for eight years.

He ran the FBI under George W Bush for nearly eight years and was then FBI director under Obama for four years.

The extension of his 10-year term was confirmed by a Senate vote of 100-0.

So, there's that.

Speaking of Mueller…

DC has a new themed ice cream truck serving up cold and guilty pleasures from outside the likes of the Trump Hotel and the Russian Embassy:

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Ice cream season, however, is all but done.

As fires raged up and down California this week, the East Coast received some early winter snow.

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It's cold. Just one more thing to be grumpy about.

Or, rug up, go outside and throw snowballs.

Up to you.