You know that feeling in your stomach? The one you get when the country is about to fall apart? We all know the face of that feeling. It is a skinny guy in pants that are the color of dirt. His name is Steve Kornacki. He stands in front of a giant touch screen. He waves his arms. He talks very fast about counties in Ohio that nobody has ever visited. We watch him because we are scared. We watch him because we want to know who will run things for the next four years. It is serious business. Or at least, it used to be.

But now, nothing is serious. Everything is a joke. NBC decided to take their serious math man and make him a salesman. For what? For a British singer named Harry Styles. Yes, you heard that right. The guy who usually tells us if the economy is going to crash or if the Senate has flipped is now telling us where a pop star is going to sing songs about fruit.

This is the world we live in now. The line between 'news' and 'nonsense' is gone. It has been erased. Steve Kornacki stood there at his Big Board. It is the same board he uses to track votes. It is the same board that gives half of America a panic attack every two years. But this time, there were no red states. There were no blue states. There were just tour dates. He treated it like it was important. He rolled up his sleeves. He did the math. He pointed at cities with that frantic energy he has. But he wasn't saving democracy. He was selling seats in a stadium.

Why does this make me so mad? It should be funny, right? It is just a crossover episode. That is what the people in the suits think. They sit in their tall glass buildings in New York and think they are geniuses. 'Let's take the election guy and make him talk about the feather boa guy!' they say. They high-five each other. They think they are clever.

But it is not clever. It is sad. It shows us that they think we are stupid. They think we are just clapping seals. They think that if they dangle a familiar face in front of us, we will buy whatever they are selling. And the worst part? They are right. People on the internet went wild. They loved it. They thought it was adorable.

Think about what this means. Steve Kornacki's job is supposed to be about facts. It is supposed to be about data. It is supposed to be boring. That is the point. But now, he is a mascot. He is like Mickey Mouse or that gecko that sells insurance. He is a character. He puts on the glasses. He puts on the khakis. He performs for us.

This is why nobody trusts the news anymore. If the same guy who tells you about a national crisis is also doing hype work for a boy band singer, how can you take him seriously? You can't. You shouldn't. It is all just content. It is all just noise to keep you looking at the screen so they can show you more ads for pills you don't need.

Harry Styles does not need help selling tickets. He is rich. He is famous. He wears strange clothes and people scream. He could announce his tour by writing it on a napkin and throwing it out a window, and it would sell out in five minutes. He does not need the MSNBC map guy. This was just a stunt. It was a stunt to make you click.

And let's talk about the map itself. That map represents the United States. It represents the weird, broken, messy place we live in. Seeing it covered in concert dates feels wrong. It feels like they are mocking us. 'Forget about your problems,' the map says. 'Forget about the inflation and the fighting and the angry people. Just go see the British man dance.'

It is bread and circuses. That is an old saying. It means if you feed the people and give them a show, they won't notice that the city is burning down. Well, here is your show. Here is your circus. The ringmaster is wearing Gap khakis and holding a calculator.

Usually, when I see Kornacki trending on social media, I get scared. I think something bad happened. I think there is a special election I forgot about. I check the news with a heavy heart. But today? No. Today it is just marketing. It is just a big commercial disguised as a news segment.

So go ahead. Laugh at the video. Buy the tickets. Scream for Harry. But remember this moment. Remember when the news stopped pretending to be news and just became another part of the entertainment machine. The next time Kornacki stands at that board to talk about something real, try not to picture him talking about a pop concert. It will be hard. And that is exactly what they wanted.