This will go down in the annals of cable news history as one of the most embarrassing moments ever.
MSNBC’s Brian Williams and New York Times Editorial Board Member Mara Gay were discussing Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign when they exposed their complete lack of basic mathematics.
Gay said “somebody tweeted recently that actually with the money that he spent, he could have given every American a million dollars”.
This was planned ahead of time with multiple people at MSNBC knowing about this because Williams then brought up an on-screen graphic of the tweet, saying “I’ve got it. Let’s put it on the screen. When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear. Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. Population, 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million and have had lunch money left over.”
Williams added,”it’s an incredible way of putting it.”
Gay said “It’s an incredible way of putting it.It’s true. It’s disturbing.”
Except it is not true.
Basically elementary math: $500 million divided by 327,000,000 people is not $1 million-plus per person.
This is why trust in the media is at historic lows.
Brian Riedl with the Manhattan Institute nails it writing, "[I]ts bad enough to have an entire political movement that believes "the billionayas" can fund socialism because they cannot do basic arithmetic. Now we have MSNBC hosts & NYT editorial board members doing TV segments along these lines. We Are Doomed."