welcome to the lead. i m pamela brown in for jake tapper. and we begin with our politics lead. a giant step for president biden as he cheers on $3.5 trillion worth of promises made and promises he hopes to keep. hours after passing the bipartisan infrastructure deal, the senate voted very early this morning to move forward on the president s $3.5 trillion budget blueprint. now, this plan includes a long list of pricey biden priorities such as investments to fight against climate change, universal pre-k creating more affordable housing and changes to the tax code just to name a few. the late-night vote was only the first step in a lengthy process, which as cnn s phil mattingly reports, already is turning into a price tag fight within the president s own party. in the past 24 hours we ve seen the senate advance two key pieces of my economic agenda. reporter: president biden taking a victory lap for the second time just hours after this moment. [ applause ] that applause f
so i have a product i can promote and kind of just tweak it to my personality, essentially. and now i m hungry. that was nbc s dasha burns reporting. well, it is the top of the hour and it is very good to be with you tonight. new covid cases are spiking in florida. today was another record day for hospitalizations, the sixth record day in a row. governor ron desantis is blamed for the spike lies elsewhere. we ll discuss that with our saturday night panel. the answer is, the permanent successor to alex trebek, but they can t say correct response? jeopardy! s executive producer is reportedly on track to be the new host. who is mike richards? and how are fans of the show reacting? plus, so much for the friendly skies. a recent viral video shows flight attendants restraining a man with duct tape. could new faa rules cut down on problematic passengers? and the future of our friendships. if it seems like we re more distant than ever these days, it s not your imagination
hour and it is very good to be with you tonight. new covid cases are spiking in florida. today was another record day for hospitalizations, the sixth record day in a row. governor ron desantis is blamed for the spike lies elsewhere. we ll discuss that with our saturday night panel. the answer is, the permanent successor to alex trebek, but what is the correct response? jeopardy! s executive producer is reportedly on track to be the new host. who is mike richards? and how are fans of the show reacting? plus, so much for the friendly skies. a recent viral video shows flight attendants restraining a man with duct tape. could new faa rules cut down on problematic passengers? and the future of our friendships. if it seems like we re more distant than ever these days, it s not your imagination. but changing one of america s political trends might help turn that around. i ll explain in tonight s essay. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, i m joshua johnson. welcome
greg: she still made it here. julie joins us as well. [applause] despite the fact that kat ditched her at the club. what a mess. and of course, there is dana perino, she is here. yay! she spent all night prepping for the show. greg: you never do that on the the five. and last but not least, buck sexton. he has a new radio show with clay travis. here they are celebrating when they got the news. [bleep] greg: sad news about clay, though. so what should we talk about today? unhinged. greg: if you want to understand why fascists get into politics, it s never more clear than when you hear it from the fascist. it s not just because they were too weak for sports or too ugly for showbiz, although that explains adam schiff. it s to gain power over you. and become exempt from the rules they enforce on others. that s why as a kid everyone wanted to be simon and a game of simon says. it s like becoming an ark who sells cocaine or a new york governor with faster hands
understanding just how bad the coronavirus pandemic is once again. it is been one month since president biden said this. today we re closer than ever to declaring our independent from a deadly virus. but the reality one month later is alarmingly different. take a look at these maps. one month ago, this was the level of covid transmission across the country. now, watch the wave of red symbolizing high levels of transmission a wash across the states. this is what it looked like two weeks ago and this just one week ago. and here is today. red washed over the majority of the country. we are nowhere near breaking away from this virus. we are, in fact, being held hostage by it. here is how one front line nurse put it. we re a year into this and people still are making the same mistakes over and over again. and it was bad enough the first time around when it was all still new and you could at least the country ask nearing over 100,000 covid cases per day. dr. fauci warns t