MSNBC host Brian Williams and New York Times Editorial Board Member Mara Gay raised eyebrows Thursday for completely botching basic arithmetic by featuring a tweet about the money Michael Bloomberg dumped into the race.
“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. population is 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over,” read the tweet from writer Mekita Rivas. “I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST.”
The tweet was first referenced during the segment by Gay, prompting Williams to pull it up on screen.
“When I read it tonight on social media it kind of all became clear," Williams said. "Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads, U.S. population 327 million. Don’t tell us if you’re ahead of us on the math. He could’ve given American $1 million dollars and had lunch money left over. It’s an incredible way of putting it.”
“It’s true,” Gay responded. “It’s disturbing.”
MSNBC’s Brian Williams reads a tweet: "Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. U.S. Population, 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million"
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 6, 2020
NYT Editorial Board Member Mara Gay: “It’s an incredible way of putting it. It’s true. It’s disturbing”
It's $1.53 per person pic.twitter.com/dIiwCESgh8
No, it's not true. Not even close to being true. Needless to say, social media users had a field day with the blunder.
Had no idea Bloomberg was worth $327 trillion!
— Yashar Ali ?? (@yashar) March 6, 2020
Its bad enough to have an entire political movement that believes "the billionayas" can fund socialism because they cannot do basic arithmetic.
— Brian Riedl ?? (@Brian_Riedl) March 6, 2020
Now we have MSNBC hosts & NYT editorial board members doing TV segments along these lines.
We Are Doomed. https://t.co/aJldYoOloY
Unbelievable, Brian Williams of MSNBC and a NYT editorial board member did a segment endorsing this math. What the hell? https://t.co/aJldYp5WNy
— Brian Riedl ?? (@Brian_Riedl) March 6, 2020
how did this end up on tv? pic.twitter.com/xUYIOChhKv
— andrew kaczynski?? (@KFILE) March 6, 2020
These are the people telling us to completely change our way of life due to climate change science. https://t.co/6FZNj75CjE
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) March 6, 2020
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