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Cornyn, a Texas Republican, criticizes his party in op-ed after midterm losses

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Covered by 4 outlets across the spectrum.

4 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

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Outgoing Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, criticized his party in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday, a day after Republicans lost key races in the midterm elections, including the contest to replace him. The Hill and Bloomberg report that Cornyn argued Republicans’ own unforced errors alienated voters. The Hill quotes the op-ed’s title, “Republicans Forgot How to Win Elections.” Raw Story reports that Cornyn wrote the losses were foreseeable and that losing candidates shrank the party. Raw Story also says Cornyn lost the Texas Republican primary runoff to Ken Paxton in May, after Trump endorsed Paxton.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. Editors read every story. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. Cornyn, an outgoing Texas Republican senator, wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday criticizing his party after the midterm losses.

    Reported byFar Left1Left1Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    Raw Story
    Left
    Bloomberg
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    Washington Examiner

  2. Republicans lost key races in Tuesday’s midterm elections, including the contest to replace Cornyn in the Senate.

    Reported byFar Left1Left1Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    Raw Story
    Left
    Bloomberg
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    Washington Examiner

  3. Cornyn argued that Republicans’ own unforced political errors alienated voters and cost the party.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Bloomberg
    Center
    The Hill
    Right
    Washington Examiner

  4. Cornyn lost the Texas Republican primary runoff to Ken Paxton in May, after Trump endorsed Paxton.

    One outletRaw Story· Far Left

How each side tells it

Compare views

All sides report that Cornyn, a Texas Republican, criticized his party in a Wall Street Journal op-ed after Tuesday’s midterm losses. Left headlines stress the harshness of his words and Republicans’ self-blame, while center and right headlines quote his criticism of unforced errors and the party’s approach.

  • the left

    2 outlets

    Left headlines stress how harshly Cornyn attacks his own party, with far-left Raw Story using ‘rips’ and ‘suicidal’ where Bloomberg uses the milder ‘blasts’.

    GOP senator Loaded verb“rips”‘Rips’ casts Cornyn’s op-ed as an attack on his party rather than a critique.More neutral: criticizesDisagree with this highlight? his own party for ‘Sensational language“suicidal”‘Suicidal’ asserts the party’s choices were self-destructive, a judgement the article does not establish.More neutral: moves Cornyn said were errorsDisagree with this highlight?’ moves that sealed midterm ‘beat-down’
    Raw StoryFar LeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    1 outlet

    The Hill’s headline quotes Cornyn’s own words, ‘forgot how to win’, and ties the defeat to Trump, presenting the piece as Cornyn’s own analysis.

    Cornyn says GOP 'forgot how to win' under Trump
    The HillCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    1 outlet

    The one right-side outlet frames the op-ed as Cornyn tearing into the party’s ‘unforced political errors’, blaming candidates’ divisive rhetoric and infighting for the losses.

    John Cornyn Loaded verb“tears into”‘Tears into’ adds drama to a written op-ed criticism.More neutral: criticizesDisagree with this highlight? GOP’s ‘unforced political errors’ in post-midterm criticism
    Washington ExaminerRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left6

    blastedBlaststore intoscathing

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right1

    tears into

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded verb

    blastedMore neutral: criticized

    ‘Blasted’ adds force beyond a plain report that Cornyn criticized Republicans.

    US Senator John Cornyn blasted his fellow Republicans after they lost key elections across the country, including…

    Used byBloomberg (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    BlastsMore neutral: criticizes

    ‘Blasts’ adds force beyond a plain report that Cornyn criticized the party.

    Cornyn Blasts GOP for ‘Unforced’ Errors That Alienated Voters

    Used byBloomberg (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    tears intoMore neutral: criticizes

    ‘Tears into’ adds drama to a written op-ed criticism.

    John Cornyn tears into GOP’s ‘unforced political errors’ in post-midterm criticism

    Used byWashington Examiner (Right)

  • Loaded verb

    tore intoMore neutral: criticized

    ‘Tore into’ adds drama to a written op-ed criticism.

    A Republican senator ousted by President Donald Trump's pick tore into his own party in a scathing postmortem of this week's midterms.

    Used byRaw Story (Far Left)

Show 3 more phrasesShow fewer

  • Sensational language

    scathingMore neutral: critical

    ‘Scathing’ characterizes the tone of the op-ed in the outlet’s own voice.

    …senator ousted by President Donald Trump's pick tore into his own party in a scathing postmortem of this week's midterms.

    Used byRaw Story (Far Left)

  • Loaded verb

    ripsMore neutral: criticizes

    ‘Rips’ casts Cornyn’s op-ed as an attack on his party rather than a critique.

    GOP senator rips his own party for ‘suicidal’ moves that sealed midterm ‘beat-down’

    Used byRaw Story (Far Left)

  • Sensational language

    suicidalMore neutral: moves Cornyn said were errors

    ‘Suicidal’ asserts the party’s choices were self-destructive, a judgement the article does not establish.

    GOP senator rips his own party for ‘suicidal’ moves that sealed midterm ‘beat-down’

    Used byRaw Story (Far Left)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

2 outlets

Leads with

  • Cornyn’s harsh words for his party
  • Republicans’ self-inflicted losses
  • the GOP’s defeat at the polls
See the 2 headlines from the leftHide the headlines
  • Raw StoryFar Left

    GOP senator Loaded verb“rips”‘Rips’ casts Cornyn’s op-ed as an attack on his party rather than a critique.More neutral: criticizesDisagree with this highlight? his own party for ‘Sensational language“suicidal”‘Suicidal’ asserts the party’s choices were self-destructive, a judgement the article does not establish.More neutral: moves Cornyn said were errorsDisagree with this highlight?’ moves that sealed midterm ‘beat-down’

    A Republican senator ousted by President Donald Trump's pick Loaded verb“tore into”‘Tore into’ adds drama to a written op-ed criticism.More neutral: criticizedDisagree with this highlight? his own party in a Sensational language“scathing”‘Scathing’ characterizes the tone of the op-ed in the outlet’s own voice.More neutral: criticalDisagree with this highlight? postmortem of this week's midterms. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday that the GOP's Election Day "beat-down wasn't only foreseeable, …

    Read at Raw Story (opens in a new tab)
  • BloombergLeft

    Cornyn Loaded verb“Blasts”‘Blasts’ adds force beyond a plain report that Cornyn criticized the party.More neutral: criticizesDisagree with this highlight? GOP for ‘Unforced’ Errors That Alienated Voters

    US Senator John Cornyn Loaded verb“blasted”‘Blasted’ adds force beyond a plain report that Cornyn criticized Republicans.More neutral: criticizedDisagree with this highlight? his fellow Republicans after they lost key elections across the country, including the race to replace him in the chamber.

    Read at Bloomberg (opens in a new tab)

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • Cornyn’s own analysis of the defeat
  • the op-ed’s title, “Republicans Forgot How to Win Elections”
  • the party’s losses under Trump
See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • The HillCenter

    Cornyn says GOP 'forgot how to win' under Trump

    Outgoing Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) issued his own analysis Wednesday after the GOP suffered major losses across the country and in the Lone Star State in Tuesday's midterms. …

    Read at The Hill (opens in a new tab)

From the right

1 outlet

Leads with

  • divisive rhetoric and infighting by candidates
  • the party’s shrinking appeal
  • Democrats’ control of both chambers
See the headline from the rightHide the headlines
  • Washington ExaminerRight

    John Cornyn Loaded verb“tears into”‘Tears into’ adds drama to a written op-ed criticism.More neutral: criticizesDisagree with this highlight? GOP’s ‘unforced political errors’ in post-midterm criticism

    Outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) sharply criticized his own party Wednesday, blaming Republican candidates’ divisive rhetoric and political infighting for a string of bruising midterm election losses that handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. …

    Read at Washington Examiner (opens in a new tab)

The stories you read build My Mix, a private picture of which sides cover the stories you choose, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    Bloomberg, Nov 4, 1:29 PM EST

  • Center

    2 hr 32 min later

    Its first report, Nov 4, 4:02 PM EST

  • Right

    48 min later

    Its first report, Nov 4, 2:18 PM EST

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. BloombergLeftNov 4, 1:29 PM EST
  2. Washington ExaminerRightNov 4, 2:18 PM EST
  3. The HillCenterNov 4, 4:02 PM EST
  4. Raw StoryFar LeftNov 4, 5:33 PM EST

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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