MSNBC anchor Brian Williams and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay either believe there are fewer than 500 people in this country or that Mike Bloomberg spent 327 trillion dollars on his failed presidential campaign.

Watch Williams and Gay marvel at the amount of money Bloomberg spent:

What is wrong with these people? This would be right here if there were 327 people in the US. And this reflects horribly on the NY Times too. Can someone stop and think for two seconds? pic.twitter.com/kZJYYoC6gD — Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) March 6, 2020

Gay: Somebody tweeted recently that, actually, with the money [Bloomberg] spent, he could’ve given every American a million dollars. Williams: We got it. Let’s put it up. Gay: Yeah. Williams: When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear. [Reads tweet]: “Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. population is 327 million.” [To viewing audience]: “Don’t tell us if you’re ahead of us on the math.” [Resumes reading tweet]: “He could’ve given each American $1 million and still had money left over.” [To Gay]: “It’s an incredible way of putting it.” Gay: It’s an incredible way of putting it. It’s true…

The tweet was published in the verified account of Mekita Rivas, who has since deleted it, locked her account, and updated her biography to read, “I know, I’m bad at math.” She appears to be a freelance writer for outlets such as Glamour magazine and the far-left Washington Post.

No one should give Rivas a hard time. Twitter is Twitter, not real life. We’ve all published head-slapping stuff in haste. But…

What the hell is going on at NBC News and the New York Times?

When I first saw this clip catch fire on the Twitters, I didn’t have a chance to watch the video, so I assumed it was one of those dumb things anyone can say while on the air. Having done live television, this is what you fear most: that in the heat of the moment, and in front of the whole wide world, you’ll say something stupid. When that camera is on you, you have no time to think.

That’s not what happened here.

There was plenty of time to think … and do the math … and to listen to that part of your gut that’s screaming, This can’t be right.

Gay was aware of the tweet before she went on the air. She had plenty of time to think about it and to do the math.

Worse still, Williams also had enough time to think; good grief, he had the graphic of the tweet all ready to go.

Worser still, that tweet went through the MSNBC editorial process. The fact that the graphic of the tweet was produced and broadcasted tells us it was part of that night’s script, part of the show’s outline, that the tweet was found, forwarded, turned into an on-air graphic and something everyone knew would be discussed that night.

It is not unreasonable to assume that, outside of Williams and Gay, a half-dozen or so NBC staffers saw the tweet and still allowed it on the air.

Glenn Greenwald got it exactly right…

This wasn’t some off-the-cuff live-TV moment. It was a planned graphic. Imagine how many people’s hands, and brains, this had to pass through in order for it to make onto the air and then receive the endorsement of the two people on air. MSNBC is such a shitshow: https://t.co/DIMlyQjGMo — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 6, 2020

So here’s the larger point…

This is more than just a silly oops… This is something a whole lot more than that…

What this really is, is another example of how blind the fake news media are when it comes to pushing their agenda.

Gay goes on to use the tweet to lament the fact that “there’s too much money in politics,” and this is, of course, a favorite talking point for a corrupt media who want to be the only money in politics.

You see, there is nothing the media want more than to recapture the glory days of when they had the power to sway and control public opinion. The media have no problem when the media themselves are the mega-corporation spending billions of corporate dollars to meddle in elections, when the media themselves are the corporate death star seeking to destroy a Donald Trump and elect a Hillary Clinton, to destroy a Mitt Romney and John McCain to elect a Barack Obama.

Oh, no… That’s good money to have in politics.

MSNBC is an openly left-wing network, an openly left-wing corporation pouring billions of dollars into every election. But that’s good corporate money in politics because… well… because shut up.

George Soros is good money because he and the far-left media are on the same page.

Bloomberg spending $500 million, however, is bad money in politics.

Koch money is really bad money in politics.

Sheldon Adelson money is pure evil.

Believe me, there is nothing the media want more than to silence everyone so it is only their corrupt voices being heard.

So what happened on MSNBC Thursday night was an insightful illustration of how unthinking and dogmatic the media are, of the tunnel vision of demagogues.

UPDATE: It only took 12 or so hours for Gay to check her own math.

Buying a calculator, brb 🙈 — Mara Gay (@MaraGay) March 6, 2020

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.