Jonathan Lemire
White House bureau chief at Politico and host of MSNBC's Way Too Early. Former AP White House reporter.
How We Measure Tone
Tone is a numeric score from −6 to +6 measuring how a statement characterizes legislation — not whether we agree with it. The score reflects language intensity, not correctness.
“They named a mass detention bill after one victim to make it politically impossible to oppose.”
— Joy Reid on the Laken Riley Act“The concern from civil liberties groups is the 48-hour takedown mandate — that gives platforms an incentive to over-remove content.”
— Chris Hayes on the TAKE IT DOWN Act“The bill passed the House 218 to 206 with two Democratic votes. It faces a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.”
— Jake Tapper on the Sports Act“The One Big Beautiful Bill was a solid win, in part because it dodged some terrible policy.”
— Kimberley Strassel on the OBBBA“This is a common-sense bill. Laken Riley would be alive today if this law had been in place.”
— Sean Hannity on the Laken Riley ActTone measures how a personality frames legislation, not whether their framing is accurate. A +5.0 and a −5.0 can both be factually correct — the score reflects advocacy intensity. We don't rate outlets as left or right. We measure what they say.
“Americans do not like how this administration is handling immigrants and deportations. The anger about the scenes of unrest and violence amid ICE operations is real, and the administration has telegraphed that it would like to carry out a crackdown on Haitians in Ohio next.”