I'm sorry. Really sorry. I shouldn't have shrieked, shouldn't have alarmed the dog and possibly the neighbour.

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It's not an excuse but I couldn't help myself. The excitement was too much, the drama impossible to ignore, even if it was being played out on the other side of the world.

I also apologise for the schadenfreude that triggered the shriek. I'm not going to deny the pleasure knowing Donald Trump was having a terrible night, confirmed when he took to social media and blasted Fox News for its coverage of the US midterms. It was a sure sign things weren't going his way when the election results started to come in.

When the realisation dawned that he was about to become Donald The Lame Duck, he couldn't contain his rage. And I couldn't contain my delight. Partly because these midterms have huge consequences for the rest of the world, including Australia, but mainly because, like most Aussies, I detest braggarts and blowhards.

My tall-poppy syndrome kicked in as I pictured him fuming at the East Wing watch party as it became obvious the Republican Party he'd shaped in his own image was in for an electoral clobbering.

Pundits had been saying for weeks that the Democrats would likely win the House of Representatives but gaining control of the Senate would be too high a bar. By lunchtime in Australia, it became certain they'd snatch both. It wasn't just a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami.

In decades past, I wouldn't have taken much notice of an election like this. But in his second term, Trump has made life miserable for people around the world with tariffs and his aimless war with Iran which lit an inflationary fire across the world, which we're suffering here in Australia.

He implored voters to imagine he was on the ballot. They did and look where it got him. There couldn't have been a clearer message: the Trump name has turned toxic for voters. For a man so addicted to adulation, that reality must be hard to face. Predictably, late in the day he claimed preposterously that if he was on the ballot the Republicans would have won in a landslide.

Really? I suspect the result would have been even worse for the GOP.

The once grand party has some serious soul searching to do. It must question the wisdom of being in the thrall of a shameless populist. If this election was a referendum on Trump's presidency, America's emphatic verdict is that, at the halfway point, it's been a complete dud.

Finally, two things I won't apologise for. First, the sense of optimism that the cycle of uncertainty we've felt around the world, much of it driven by Trump, might be coming to an end. Second, the relief........

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