Revenge is so sweet as The Swamp savours the downfall of The Donald …

Only seconds after CNN announced Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump, the first car horn started blaring outside my Washington home.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest in front of the residence of Governor Tim Walz in St Paul, Minnesota. Picture: AFP

Call it the revenge of The Swamp. Only seconds after CNN announced Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump, the first car horn started blaring outside my Washington home. Within minutes, it became a cacophony of noise across my normally quiet, leafy neighbourhood.

Then came the neighbours, flooding into the street yelling and cheering, some with arms raised.

One man opposite my house, a former senior official with the Justice Department, jumped into his parked car and just sat on his car horn forever with a beatific grin on his face.

Supporters of Donald Trump listen to the national anthem at a ‘Stop the Steal’ rally in front of the state capitol in Phoenix, Arizona. Picture; Getty Images/AFP

These weren’t just any neighbours, they were the human face of what Trump has derided for four year as The Swamp. These were the people who have always made Washington tick — lobbyists, lawyers, pentagon workers, diplomats, public servants, mums and dads.

They are machinery that keeps the capital of the world’s superpower turning and after the longest four years, this was their moment to savour, the downfall of the most anti-Washington president in living memory.

Within minutes there was a rush to get to the White House to join the gathering party. Text messages started flying around the neighbourhood, ‘I'm going now, you coming?’ Crowds quickly gathered outside the White House, along what is now

Trump supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina, protest against the election results. Picture: AFP

called Black Lives Matter Boulevard.

The Donald Trump downfall party wasn’t confined to Washington, it erupted in cities — the Democrat strongholds — across the US.

In New York, people poured into Times Square; in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, people danced in the streets, laughed and even cried.

While America’s big cities celebrated, in other parts of the country Trump supporters reacted with disbelief and denial, repeating the President’s unsubstantiated claims of a stolen vote.

At the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix, Arizona, Sharron Morris, a 51-year-old trauma recovery life coach, said: “I want my voice heard. It’s wrong to win elections by fraud.”

Biden backers celebrate New York’s Washington Square Park. Picture: Getty Images

In Miami’s Little Havana neighbourhood, some said they still believed the US Supreme Court would overturn the result.

The downside about being a polarising president like Trump is that your opponents celebrate your downfall with rare gusto.

Trump was golfing at his Virginia country club when news of his defeat, the ultimate bogey, came through.

Then public messages of congratulations for Biden poured in from leaders around the world, including Scott Morrison. All of a sudden, it seemed so much more real for many that it did during these past four days of suspense.

No matter how much Trump might seek to deny it, barring an unlikely legal miracle he is leaving the White House as a one-term president.

Joe Biden supporters in Washington Square Park. Picture: AFP

Biden’s wife, Jill, tweeted a picture of the couple at their Delaware home, with Biden wearing a cap saying ‘we did it’ and ‘46,’ with the caption ‘He will be President for all our families”.

Vice-president elect Kamala Harris was in the countryside near Wilmington when she heard. “We did it Joe, you’re going to be the next president of the US,’ she told him on the phone while standing in a field wearing activewear.

As the day wore on and the news sank in, the mood in my Washington neighbourhood became even more festive.

“This is to America,” a tipsy neighbour called Jenny shouted as she popped a bottle of Champagne with friends in her front yard, with cars tooting her as they drove past.

Someone nearby set off fireworks as more cars weaved randomly through the streets, drivers hanging out of the window waving, yelling and honking.

A few hours up the road, in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, a stage that had stood empty for four days while votes were counted finally became the ­centre-piece for the debut of the president-elect.

A woman reacts to the news of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's victory speech, in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7. Picture: Reuters

Some 400 cars drove up to hear his address, festooned with American flags, some driven by women dressed as the State of Liberty.

Back in Washington, the neighbours turned on the TV to watch the moment, still giddy in their euphoria.

“This is better than New Year’s Eve,” a neighbour called Dave told me, as fireworks exploded into the sky.

They cheered as Biden said: ‘I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but unite.”

While the 48 per cent of American voters who cast their vote for Trump will be mourning the loss of their movement’s leader, it was impossible to find a Trump voter in Washington tonight.

The Swamp was happy that the Creature from this Black Lagoon had finally been vanquished.