{"id":53019,"date":"2022-09-22T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T00:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=53019"},"modified":"2022-09-22T00:01:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T00:01:02","slug":"clearing-the-air-on-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=53019","title":{"rendered":"Clearing the air on GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Republican_Party1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-16065\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Republican_Party1-300x156.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Republican_Party1-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Republican_Party1-768x399.jpg 768w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Republican_Party1-1024x532.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Republican_Party1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I feel the need to clear the air and disabuse some readers of this blog who might be drawing an incorrect inference &#8230; which is that <em>I hate all Republicans.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Not true. Not even close to being true. What I do hate is what has <em>become<\/em> of the Republican Party, which has morphed into a cult dedicated to the ambition of one man, a former president who has managed to persuade his followers that he has more talent, more know-how and more knowledge than he actually does.<\/p>\n<p>My final stop in my 37-year print journalism career took me to the heart of conservative Republicanism. The Texas Panhandle is as rock-ribbed Republican as any region in America.<\/p>\n<p>As a consequence of my working there, I managed to make many acquaintances and friendships with those who happen to be Republicans. It makes sense, right? Of course it does!<\/p>\n<p>My career ended in the summer of 2012, but my friendships with Republicans lives on. One of my best friends in my post-journalism years turned out to be the late Ernie Houdashell, the Randall County judge. He and I jousted frequently over Asian food about politics. He didn&#8217;t change my mind and I didn&#8217;t change his. However, I loved that man.<\/p>\n<p>I came to know and respect many GOP politicians. They served in county offices; they were legislators; I came to know those who worked on the grassroots level, active in Potter and Randall County Republican politics. They are fine men and women.<\/p>\n<p>I aim my anger at those who have perverted the Republican Party. The No. 1 GOP pervert, of course, happens to be the 45th POTUS. The New York attorney general today filed a lawsuit against the ex-POTUS and three of his adult children, alleging widespread fiscal fraud. The craven cultists&#8217; reaction? They&#8217;re going to accuse AG Letitia James of all manner of misdeeds, malfeasance and mischief.<\/p>\n<p>The perversion has spread throughout Congress, into statehouses, even into county courthouses, city halls and school board conference rooms. Those who continue to foment The Big Lie about the alleged &#8220;theft&#8221; of the 2020 presidential election will continue to receive my unadulterated scorn and rage.<\/p>\n<p>So will those who continue to throw their blind loyalty to a crook, a liar and a self-aggrandizing narcissist who doesn&#8217;t give a rat&#8217;s ass about them &#8230; but only about himself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"mailto:johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com\">johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I feel the need to clear the air and disabuse some readers of this blog who might be drawing an incorrect inference &#8230; which is that I hate all Republicans. Not true. Not even close to being true. What I do hate is what has become of the Republican Party, which has morphed into a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=53019\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Clearing the air on GOP<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,14],"tags":[1941,7419,3907,4668],"class_list":["post-53019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-national-news","category-political-news","tag-gop","tag-maga","tag-republican-party","tag-texas-panhandle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53021,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019\/revisions\/53021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}