JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.min.js"></script>
JavaScript
var myCat = 'Cat1';
myXml = `<?xml version='1.0'?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Some Title</title>
<pubDate>1/1/17 00:00:00</pubDate>
<generator>SomeOne</generator>
<item>
<title>
Some Item Title 1
</title>
<link>http://example.org</link>
<description>
Lorem ipsum ...
</description>
<pubDate>1/1/17 00:00:00</pubDate>
<category>Cat1</category>
<category>Cat2</category>
</item>
<item>
<title>
Some Item Title 2
</title>
<link>http://example.org</link>
<description>
Lorem ipsum ...
</description>
<pubDate>1/1/17 00:00:00</pubDate>
<category>Cat2</category>
</item>
<item>
<title>
Some Item Title 3
</title>
<link>http://example.org</link>
<description>
Lorem ipsum ...
</description>
<pubDate>1/1/17 00:00:00</pubDate>
<category>Cat1</category>
</item>
</channel>`;
rss = $(myXml);
rss.find('item').find('category').filter(':not(:contains('+ myCat +'))').parent().remove();
$(document.body).append('<pre>');
$(document.body).append($('<div/>').text(rss.find('item').html()).html());
$(document.body).append('</pre>');