Donald Trump

Is reality setting in on Donald Trump?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, or maybe it’s real.

I could not escape the feeling today as I watched Donald J. Trump make his first public comments since losing the presidential election that reality is finally sinking in.

Which is that he lost the election and that Joseph R. Biden is going to take  over on Jan. 20 as the nation’s 46th president.

It’s only a gut feeling and, no, it has not a single thing to do with my trick knee. I was just struck by the notion listening to the subdued Trump discussing the Operation Warp Speed program his administration initiated to search for a COVID-19 vaccine that reality is staring him in the face.

Oh, he managed to take a few swipes here and there, at Pfizer for reportedly saying it didn’t receive any government assistance for the vaccine it is developing. I didn’t hear it but I understand he had an  unkind word for the president-elect.

However, by and large I detected a more somber tone from Donald Trump than I have been reading as he has unleashed the Twitter barrage since the election results produced a definitive answer to the future of the Trump presidency … which is that it is toast.

There also is news that he is withdrawing his lawsuit filed in Arizona against the state’s election officials for allegedly allowing illegal voters to cast ballots for President-elect Biden.

Yep, the end is near for the Trump presidency. I will resist feeling any sympathy for the losing candidate. He hasn’t earned a bit of it.

All I am feeling at this moment — right this minute — is happiness that the Trump cult of personality is on its way out of my White House.

State news

Lt. Gov. Patrick offers election fraud ‘bounty’ … weird!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick needs to pipe down and concentrate on running the Texas Senate, which is set to convene its regular legislative session in January.

The Houston blowhard is offering a $1 million reward — or “bounty,” if you’ll excuse the comparison — to “incentivize” the search for any evidence of voter fraud in the presidential election.

Let’s be clear. There is no evidence, none, zero of widespread election fraud. Every state and every county in the nation worked diligently to protect the integrity of the electoral system, which chose Joe Biden as president of the United States in a free and fair election.

Patrick, though, is among a horde of Texas Republican politicians who won’t accept the obvious: that Biden is the new president and that their guy, Donald Trump, got thumped at the polls.

According to the Texas Tribune: Patrick said that anyone who provides information that leads to a conviction will receive at least $25,000. The money will come from Patrick’s campaign fund, according to spokesperson Sherry Sylvester.

So, I guess Patrick believes that voter fraud occurred. Hey, here’s a thought: If he’s so sure of it, he ought to produce evidence himself. Has he done so? Oh, heavens no!

Instead, he’s looking for saps who can chase phony leads down blind alleys, keeping a bogus issue at the front of the public’s attention for as long as possible.

Get to work on your real job, Dan … and stay the hell out of the way of President-elect Joe Biden’s task of preparing for the toughest job on Earth.

national news

Biden setting cooler, calmer tone

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A nation that has endured one of the most contentious, nastiest and falsehood-filled presidential campaigns in history is now being treated to a transition that occurs with one of the principals doing what he must do.

The other one is stonewalling. Why? Because he is alleging voter fraud that likely doesn’t exist.

President-elect Joe Biden has selected his White House chief of staff. Ron Klain is a longtime Biden confidant with vast experience in government operations. Klain now becomes the point man who will guide the president-elect to selecting his Cabinet and his key White House aides and advisers.

The other guy is the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who lost his bid for re-election by a significant and growing margin. Trump is going out with the same raucousness he exhibited when he took office four years ago.

Yes, Trump has been quiet in terms of his relentless tweeting habit. His stonewalling on the transition, though, puts the nation in potential national security peril. Donald Trump’s team won’t share intelligence briefings with the new president’s team, disallowing them access to information it will need as it prepares to plot strategies for guarding against potential threats from hostile nations.

So we’re left with a president-elect who is proceeding with a transition the way he normally would do it with a predecessor who is willing to cooperate fully.

To be candid, the manner that President-elect Joe Biden is employing to take office is far more preferable than the manner that Donald Trump is using to surrender it.

I believe we are witnessing in real time the differences in the way these men govern.

national news

Remain silent, Mr. POTUS

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If you put your ear to the ground and demand complete silence around you, then you’re likely to hear something quite pleasant.

That would be the absence of any yammering from the White House.

You see, Donald John Trump is a lame-duck president who has remained quiet as the world watches President-elect Joseph Biden Jr. begin preparing for the biggest job on Earth.

Why is this worth mentioning? Because I am sick, tired and disgusted beyond measure with the incessant bitching, griping and insult from Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

I grew weary early on with his daily appearances in the White House press room in which he would misstate the pandemic crisis that continues to kill Americans every single day.

He’s not doing that these days. Trump is busying himself with lawsuits that alleged “widespread voter fraud” in states he lost to Biden. The litigation will go nowhere. Then the 45th president will be on  his way back to Mar-a-Lago, turning the White House over to No. 46, who can begin to repair the damage that Trump has brought to the presidency.

For now I intend to relish the silence from Donald Trump.

local news

‘Blue wave’ fizzled out

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

BLOGGER’S NOTE: A version of this blog was published originally on KETR-FM public radio.

Did someone suggest that Texas would be inundated by a “blue wave” of Democratic politicians seek public office in the just completed 2020 presidential election?

Wasn’t there a huge surge of anticipation that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would win the state’s 38 electoral votes on his way to a landslide win over Donald J. Trump?

I believe that happened in the weeks running up to the election.

Hmm. It didn’t happen. Neither event occurred.

The president carried Texas by roughly 6 percentage points over Biden. To be sure, the Trump-Biden gap was narrower than the 8-point victory Trump scored over Hillary Clinton in 2016; what’s more, the most recent election was far tighter than the 16-point win that GOP nominee Mitt Romney scored over President Barack Obama in 2012.

But Texas Republicans no doubt can take heart in how solidly they held onto statewide and local offices when all the ballots were tallied.

I live in Collin County, long considered one of the state’s most reliable GOP bastions. The Trump-Biden gap was far narrower than the Trump-Clinton margin four years ago.

Congressional seats held by GOP members will remain in Republican hands. A key statewide race, for Railroad Commissioner, will stay in GOP hands. The Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals? They remain all-GOP judicial benches. Republicans will continue to control the Legislature.

Political pundits and analysts keep talking about the “changing demographics” that suggest an eventual swing from solid red to a much more competitive “purple” status for Texas. Indeed, it does appear that Texas might be turning into a more competitive state, with Republicans and Democrats competing harder for votes than they have done since the GOP took control of the state political structure more than 30 years ago.

Just how entrenched is the GOP in Northeast Texas. Consider this: The percentages that Donald Trump rang up against Biden in Hunt, Kaufman, Hopkins and Rains counties virtually mirror the margins he rolled up against Hillary Clinton four years ago. Interestingly, though, is what happened in Tarrant County, which is described colloquially as the state’s “largest conservative county.” It voted narrowly for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Who knew?

So, whatever blue wave is set to wash over Texas – perhaps in the next election cycle of the one after that – seems to be a good bit away from soaking voters in Northeast Texas.

local news

What’s next for Civic Center?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I guess there’s just no pleasing some folks.

My former neighbors in Amarillo griped about the alleged lack of attention the city was giving to its Civic Center while it was plotting the construction of the ballpark that would be named Hodgetown.

Then when they get a chance to approve a $275 million bond issue to, um, enhance the Civic Center and help the city attract conventions and top-tier entertainment events … what do they do? They vote it down!

Hmm. I guess the size of the tax bill attached to Prop A got to them. They must not want to spend public money on public venues to improve public entertainment and business activities.

Go figure, man.

Amarillo long has boasted one of Texas’s lowest municipal tax rates. I guess for now it’s going to stay that way.

Meanwhile, the Civic Center still needs improvement.

Who in the name of civic responsibility is going to pay for it?

national news

Biden set to select top-tier administration team

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There are seemingly countless ways to measure why Joe Biden’s election as president will be vastly superior to Donald Trump’s election four (oh, so long) years ago.

One of them likely will be the quality of the individuals with whom the new president will surround himself.

Does anyone, for instance, really expect Vice President Kamala Harris to cast a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to confirm the selection of a Cabinet secretary? That’s what happened when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced the Senate at the beginning of Trump’s term.

Do you think President Biden is going to rely on family members with no government experience to, oh, work on Middle East peace, or perform other myriad foreign-policy tasks? That’s what we’ve had with presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner at the helm of Daddy-in-law Trump’s foreign policy apparatus.

Is there a chance that President Biden is going to install his daughter Ashley as a “senior policy adviser”?

The difference between Trump and Biden cannot be more stark than in examining their pre-presidential experience. Trump came from the world of business and entertainment. Biden is steeped in government, public policy and public service.

Trump had zero government connections when he took office; Biden’s address book is chock full of them.

With all that laid out there, I look forward to watching the president-elect choose his team and assessing the quality of its members. I also look forward to evaluating them on the basis of their experience in government or whatever policy the president will ask them to oversee.

The team that is exiting the scene has been sorely lacking in the know-how required to operate a massive federal government.

national news

Biden’s patience gets tested

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am going to presume that everyone – and I mean every single human being – has his or her limit on the amount of nonsense/malarkey/bullsh** they can take.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is, um, one of those human beings. He currently is enduring what is certainly an unprecedented example of bad behavior from an individual who has just lost a presidential election. That would be, of course. Donald John Trump.

Joe Biden is proceeding apace with his transition into the presidency. He is doing so without a single lick of cooperation from Trump, who tradition suggests would offer his successor all the perks of the office to ensure a seamless, orderly transfer of power.

But … ohhh, no. That ain’t happening! Trump has decided so far that he won’t concede. Nor will he offer the president-elect any sort of help. Some of that refusal, I hasten to add, includes matters of vital national security.

Tradition tells us that the outgoing president offers the new president access to top-secret information. The president-elect usually is given daily presidential briefings, the kind of thing that supposedly occurs with the current president; except that Donald Trump can’t be bothered/bored with DPBs. Joe Biden isn’t wired that way. He is steeped in government, owing to his 36 years in the U.S. Senate and eight years as vice president.

Joe Biden is saying publicly that he is proceeding with the transition as if everything is just fine. But it isn’t. It’s not even close to being just fine.

That brings me back the beginning of this blog. Everyone has his or her limits.

I am going to hope that President-elect Biden’s limit far exceeds the kind of limit I would bring to this matter were I involved.

President-elect Joe Biden’s mind and heart are comforted, I am quite certain, by the inevitable arrival of Inauguration Day … at which time we can say “so long and don’t let the door hit you in the … “ you know, to Donald Trump.

local news

I salute my favorite veteran

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My favorite veteran would be 99 years of age had he been given more time on this good Earth.

He died 40 years ago. Peter John Kanelis was just 59 years of age when he perished in a freak boating accident up yonder in British Columbia.

I have saluted him already on this blog as we commemorate Veterans Day. I’ll do so again simply by thanking him for imbuing in me a sense of duty to my country. He exhibited the meaning of answering the call to duty on arguably one of the darkest days in U.S. history.

Japanese warplanes attacked our fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Dad, who was just 20 years of age then, was listening to the radio reports of what had occurred. He got up from his chair and left my grandparents’ house in Portland, Ore. Dad ventured downtown to the armed forces recruiting station. The Marine Corps office was closed that Sunday, so he walked across the hall to enlist in the Navy.

Roughly two months later, Dad reported for duty and went to war, joining 16 million Americans to fight tyranny around the world.

Dad taught me implicitly years later about duty and honor and love of country. He didn’t generally volunteer much of about what he endured in the Mediterranean Theater of operations; I would ask him and he would talk about it. He was proud of the service he delivered to his country.

I am proud of him to this day. I also am proud of all the members of the Greatest Generation who triumphed over tyranny as well as all who served — and are serving in defense of this great nation.

If you see someone you recognize as a veteran, thank him or her. I do so regularly … in honor of my favorite veteran.

national news

Give it up, Mr. POTUS

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, Mr. President, I have resisted directing my remarks directly to you.

I get that you don’t listen to anyone, let alone actually read this blog. I just have to get something off my chest.

Let me be crystal clear: You lost the election to Joe Biden. I get that you decided long ago to toss aside tradition. I remember what you said about being an “unconventional” candidate and president. Boy howdy, you’ve kept that promise, even as you have trashed the office you inherited.

This idiocy you are fomenting about an electoral theft that didn’t occur is dangerous, it is shameful, it embarrasses this nation around the world. You are putting the nation’s security at risk by refusing to give the president-elect the briefings he deserves as the next commander in chief.

Oh, and your decision to fire Defense Secretary Mark Esper — through a Twitter message, no less — is yet another example of the ghastly manner you choose to govern.

I make no apology to anyone for my loathing of you as a person, let alone as president of the United States. I have been blasting you to smithereens since the moment you rode down that escalator at Trump Tower with Melania at your side.

I want you out of sight and out of mind. I want you to vacate my house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I want you to accept the result of the defeat you suffered.

Don’t you get it? A clear majority of American voters are sick and tired of your yammering, your petulance, your boorishness.

Get the hell out of the way and let the new team take over.

There. Now I feel better. It won’t do a damn bit of good, other than to assuage my intense anger at the way you are behaving.

Good fu**ing riddance … Donald!

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