Republicans were “entitled to five more seats” in Texas said President Donald Trump when responding to a question about the redistricting efforts taking place in the Lone
Star State.

 “We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas,” Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.”

While not surprising, the word “entitled” raised a few eyebrows.

Merriam-Webster defines entitlement as “belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges” (interesting they use the actual word in the definition). Dictionary.com takes it one step further saying it is “the unjustified assumption that one has a right to certain advantages, preferential treatment, etc.”.

Republicans have long been known for opposing entitlements to those groups of people who they feel don’t deserve them. Recently, Elon Musk trumpeted the need to make cuts in federal entitlement programs including Medicare and Social Security citing massive waste and fraud.

Of course, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott added the redistricting agenda item to the special session he called for after the horrific flooding that took place in the Texas hill country last month (along with some other items including banning THC). One wonders how the Texas legislature was able to come up with redistricting plan so fast why still wrestling with how to best protect its citizens who live along the Guadalupe River.

They did manage to hold several town meetings on the issue with no details (aka maps to show to the public) in an apparent show of transparency. Days after the meetings were concluded, low and behold, they introduced the maps that they plan to vote on (funny how that worked).

Sadly, it’s a common practice for politicians to preach, do as I say, not as I do. Perhaps they also need to post the golden rule in Austin.