Texas Sen. John Cornyn appears on the fence about Todd Blanche’s nomination to be Trump’s attorney general 47%

By Andrew Schneider82%

7/17/2026, 4:00:15 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Confirmation Bias, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 22.4% saturation with 90 hits. Analysis detected 524 faulty-reasoning hits from 402 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.4% and a BS Rank of 47% (11,740 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 53.60% of the article peer group.

Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general and the president's personal attorney, is facing a very close vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
The outcome of the vote may hinge on one senator whose reelection hopes were doomed by Trump's intervention: Texas Sen. 
John Cornyn. 
Cornyn drew an admission from Blanche during his confirmation hearing that Trump could still enforce the Justice Department's one-point-eight billion-dollar "anti-weaponization fund," after Blanche initially said the fund was "dead." 
"I'm not going to make a decision until I have to," Cornyn told reporters after Wednesday's hearing. 
"I was pointing out that the weaponization fund, which people were concerned about, is not really dead. 
He says it is, but he admitted that it could be enforced because this is, essentially, a contract, and it hadn’t been modified by the parties in writing, which is required to change the settlement agreement." 
The fund was created in May as a vehicle to settle Trump's lawsuit against the IRS. 
It also included a provision immunizing Trump, his family members, and his businesses from IRS audits. 
"Blanche actually wrote that as an addendum the next day to his earlier memorandum or order on the anti-weaponization fund," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. 
"Cornyn showed he was quite concerned about that and asked a number of pretty good questions." 
Republicans have a majority of one vote on the Judiciary Committee following the death of South Carolina Sen. 
Lindsey Graham. 
"If they lose one, there's a tie," Tobias said. 
"And so, that means the only way you could move the person out is to what's called a discharge petition and have a majority vote on the floor." 
Cornyn's hopes for a fifth term in the U.S. 
Senate were dashed in May when he lost the Texas Republican primary runoff to state Attorney General Ken Paxton. 
Trump intervened late in the contest, endorsing Paxton when early voting was already underway. 
Since then, Cornyn has been the subject of intense speculation regarding whether he would distance himself from Trump in his remaining months in office  as has Louisiana Sen. 
Bill Cassidy, who was also defeated after Trump endorsed his primary opponent. 
"I'm certain [Cornyn will] be lobbied extensively and probably by the White House," Tobias said. 
"So, we'll see how it goes." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 14.4%Andrew Schneider: 2.5%Houston Public Media: 1.7%Confirmation Bias14.4%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.7%Houston Public Media: 1.1%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 10.9%Andrew Schneider: 5.0%Houston Public Media: 2.7%Availability Heuristic10.9%This article: 7.0%Andrew Schneider: 2.0%Houston Public Media: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic7.0%This article: 4.7%Andrew Schneider: 0.9%Houston Public Media: 0.5%Hindsight Bias4.7%This article: 3.7%Andrew Schneider: 6.5%Houston Public Media: 1.3%Overconfidence Bias3.7%This article: 22.4%Andrew Schneider: 11.9%Houston Public Media: 4.9%Framing Effect22.4%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.6%Houston Public Media: 0.5%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.5%Houston Public Media: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 4.2%Houston Public Media: 2.3%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.1%Houston Public Media: 0.8%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 7.7%Andrew Schneider: 5.0%Houston Public Media: 4.7%Negativity Bias7.7%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.2%Houston Public Media: 1.2%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.7%Houston Public Media: 0.4%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.3%Houston Public Media: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.4%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 4.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.3%Houston Public Media: 1.5%Halo Effect4.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 7.2%Andrew Schneider: 2.2%Houston Public Media: 1.2%Recency Bias7.2%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.2%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 2.7%Houston Public Media: 0.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%Straw Man0.0%This article: 15.9%Andrew Schneider: 7.1%Houston Public Media: 3.5%Appeal to Authority15.9%This article: 9.2%Andrew Schneider: 4.0%Houston Public Media: 0.7%False Dilemma9.2%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 2.7%Houston Public Media: 0.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 6.9%Houston Public Media: 2.0%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.1%Houston Public Media: 0.5%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 5.5%Houston Public Media: 4.5%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 3.2%Houston Public Media: 0.8%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 11.4%Andrew Schneider: 3.2%Houston Public Media: 1.6%Post Hoc (False Cause)11.4%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.8%Houston Public Media: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.4%Houston Public Media: 0.3%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.5%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 3.9%Houston Public Media: 1.3%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 7.5%Andrew Schneider: 2.5%Houston Public Media: 1.3%Ambiguity (Equivocation)7.5%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.5%Houston Public Media: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 4.2%Andrew Schneider: 3.0%Houston Public Media: 1.1%Unattributed Quote4.2%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.0%Houston Public Media: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 1.1%Houston Public Media: 1.1%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.4%Houston Public Media: 1.7%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.8%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.0%Houston Public Media: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew Schneider: 0.8%Houston Public Media: 0.8%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

402 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers34%attributed speech266writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 30 words • 0.0% coverageJohn Cornyn • 17 words • 100.0% coverageJohn Cornyn • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageCarl Tobias • 28 words • 0.0% coverageCarl Tobias • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageCarl Tobias • 9 words • 0.0% coverageCarl Tobias • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageCarl Tobias • 15 words • 0.0% coverageCarl Tobias • 6 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Carl Tobias

94%flagged-word coverage
102 attributed words75% of attributed speech98% writer coverage

No manipulation-pattern hits were found in this speaker's attributed words or the writer's voice.

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.