MSNBC host Brian Williams and New York Times Editorial Board Member Mara Gay aired a tweet during an exchange on the ‘Eleventh Hour’ which claimed Michael Bloomberg could have made every American a millionaire with the budget he spent on his short-lived presidential campaign.
“When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear,” Williams said.
The tweet read: “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. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST.”
“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” Williams added.
“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” Gay replied. “It’s true. It’s disturbing. It does suggest what we’re talking about here, which is, there’s too much money in politics.”
Well, it would be great, if there were only 500 people in America. Of course, $500 million divided by 327 million people would be about $1.53 per person, not $1 million.
MSNBC soon after realised their error, airing a correction during the same episode. They also tweeted an explanation and an apology.
Tonight on the air we quoted a tweet that relied on bad math. We corrected the error after the next commercial break and have removed it from later editions of tonight’s program. We apologize for the error.
— 11th Hour (@11thHour) March 6, 2020
“Tonight on the air we quoted a tweet that relied on bad math. We corrected the error after the next commercial break and have removed it from later editions of tonight’s program. We apologize for the error.”
Buying a calculator, brb 🙈
— Mara Gay (@MaraGay) March 6, 2020
“Buying a calculator, brb,” Gay later tweeted.
And let’s not forget, these are the sorts who want to tell you how to vote.
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