Math is hard when counting millions? MSM makes a blooper figuring out how much Bloomberg spent on his campaign

An MSNBC host made the “disturbing discovery” that Michael Bloomberg could afford to give “each American $1 million” from his presidential campaign fund. If only their production team had used a calculator before going on air.

MSNBC’s Brian Williams was talking to NYT board member Mara Gay when he cited a tweet by a Washington Post contributor, Mekita Rivas, who literally claimed the former New York mayor and billionaire could present every single American with a whopping $1 million – supposedly all out of his $500 million fund he spent on his Democratic primaries campaign.

“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The US population is 327 million,” the journalist said, apparently implying that the billionaire spent more millions on political ads than there are people in the US. And he would “still have money left over,” Rivas wrote without a second thought.

The idea that $500 million distributed among the US population would amount to little more than just $1 per person had not even crossed her mind at that time. Neither did it in case of Williams and Gay, who acted all shocked and surprised upon stumbling upon this “discovery.”

“It is an incredible way of putting it. It is true. It is disturbing,” Gay said while Williams said that when he “read it on social media… it kind of all became clear.”

Other people on social media were not so sure, though. They quickly pointed to the mistake in the journalists’ math while marveling at how these commentators had missed this blunder themselves.

They were also apparently quick to point Rivas to her mistake as well, since the journalist blocked access not just to her Twitter page but also to her own site days after posting the tweet.

While Bloomberg could hardly give every American $1 million even if he spent every single cent of his personal fortune, he still managed to outspend all other Democratic primaries candidates combined, at l least when it comes to ads on TV and radio. His tactics did not pay off, though, as he suffered a disastrous defeat on Super Tuesday and dropped of the race the next day, throwing his support behind former vice president Joe Biden.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!