hey there. i'm joshua johnson. it's good to be with you tonight. president trump is in georgia hoping to help two republicans hold on to their senate seats. they're in runoffs that will decide the balance of power in congress. meanwhile, the current congress is nearing the end of its term with three crucial spending bills up in the air right now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york welcome to "the week." today marks four weeks since joe biden was projected as the president-elect, and today marks one month until voters in georgia set the tone for the

u.s. senate. republican senators david perdue and kelly loeffler are facing democratic challengers jon ossoff and the reverend raphael warnock respectively. georgia has not elected a democrat to the senate since 1996. last month joe biden became the first democrat to win georgia in a presidential race since '92. now, president trump spent this evening rallying supporters in valdosta, georgia. he urged the crowd of course to vote for the incumbents, while also saying that the election he just lost was rigged. that contradiction's pretty glaring. urging people to take part in a process he maintains is irredeemably fraudulent. but that narrative is everywhere. even behind the scenes. this was the wi-fi password for reporters at tonight's rally. rigged election. exclamation point. the president's push to overturn the election is going nowhere. he continues to lose in court, most recently in georgia, and in

wisconsin. this morning mr. trump called georgia's governor, brian kemp. he asked him again to persuade the state legislature to over turn the election results. governor kemp declined. one reason for this focus on congress is what's happening right now. the to-do list before the holiday break is short but very significant. congress needs to pass a defense spending bill, a government spending bill, and coronavirus relief. unemployment benefits will run out for 12 million people the day after christmas. let's begin with the president's rally in georgia. valdosta's not far from the florida state line, not far from where my family's from, in fact. just over three hours' drive south of atlanta. joining us are nbc's deepa shivaram and vaughn hilliard. what have we heard at the rally so far? anything unusual for the president or has he kind of kept up the same line of arguments he's been on the for the last few weeks? >> reporter: joshua, it's pretty

much exactly i think what we expected. donald trump started off his rally that was supposed to be on behalf of senators david perdue and kelly loeffler talking about himself and talking about his own election and making fraudulent claims basically saying that he won georgia. fact check, he didn't win georgia. and saying that the election was rigged, that the secretary of state in georgia who's republican, the governor in georgia who's republican aren't working with him, they're not competent, they're not strong enough. take a listen to some of what he said tonight. >> we won georgia, just so you understand. we've never lost an election. we're winning this election. and i will say we're fighting very hard for this state when you look at all of the corruption. make sure that when they collect the ballots and they start bragging about how many ballots they already have, you've got to make sure your secretary of

state knows what the hell he's doing. and you've got to make sure your governor gets a lot tougher than he's been. they cheated and they rigged our presidential election. but we will still win it. we will still win it. we'll still win it. and they're going to try and rig this election too. >> reporter: so joshua, a lot of all over the place rhetoric there from president trump saying a lot of things that we know are absolutely not true. but something he just said behind me a minute ago kind of struck me. he said that the senate race with these two incumbent senators who need to retain their seats, at left one of them, in order for republicans to hold on to control in the senate, he said that they would be the last line of defense against democrats. and that stood out to me because mike pence actually used that exact same line yesterday when he was campaigning in georgia. and it's interesting because it's kind of threading the needle here. right?

he's not outwardly saying that joe biden won the election and there will be a joe biden administration. but he's acknowledging that senate -- the republicans holding the senate would be in some way republicans' last stand in control of this body. so it's a lot of confusing messages that he's sending to voters. and i will say overall there's pretty much been a lack of talking about these deadlines for early voting. this is a special election. it's coming up in just one month. i haven't heard the president talk about the process of, you know, asking for absentee ballots, making sure they're registered. he hasn't really been talking about that and looking forward. and instead he's been absolutely looking backward at his own election, which he seems to still think that he won. joshua? >> von hilliard, you've been reporting on what's led up to this rally this week, what's been unfolding in georgia. what have you learned? >> yeah, joshua, i've been on the ground in the past week in georgia and i think what's telling 46 days away from inauguration when joe biden will be sworn in is that this is more than a campaign for donald trump of litigating the election that he thinks he won.

this is a campaign for him against truth. you know, early on in this administration back in 2017 when i was on the road traveling talking to predominantly trump voters i constantly heard about this idea of fake news and the lack of trust in us and the press. but then that attention really in 2018 turned to this idea of the deep state and the conspiracy against donald trump. but now what we're facing here at the end of 2020 heading into 2021 is a campaign by the president of the united states to sow division and sow mistrust in our election system here. and i think what is more telling is the fact that you have senators david perdue and kelly loeffler that are in that crowd there tonight with the president that are not pushing back and instead are campaigning right alongside of him. you know, there's been a lot of talk about these lawsuits and the litigation across the country here. but it's really these local officials, it was the likes of

gabe sterling, who oversees the state elections system in the state of georgia that five days ago called on kelly loeffler, called on david perdue to, quote, step up and speak against this sort of rhetoric undermining people's faith in our elections. and then you see in arizona yesterday it was the arizona speaker of the house, a republican, who said, "it would violate the basic principles of the republican government and the rule of law if we attempted to nullify the people's vote based on unsupported theories of fraud." again, these are two statewide officials here. not federal office holders that the american public knows. and i think that is the most concerning part here in these 46 days, is what he has done to voters' minds. i was around the state of georgia talking to these republican voters. one after the other do not believe that donald trump actually lost this election. so while folks can shake their head at these rudy giuliani hearings or meetings, there's a great part of this republican electorate that believes this. that believes this president. and that is a question of where does this republic go from here?

because david perdue and kelly loeffler, yes, they're trying to hold on to the senate majority but right now what is at stake, at least for voters in these conversations, is a belief in what is the truth, belief in our election system and where does this country go from here. >> before i let you go, deepa, talk about the crowd a little bit. i wonder if you're seeing any efforts at social distancing, mask wearing, as the pandemic continues to get worse in georgia and elsewhere, before we go. >> reporter: right, joshua. i've got to tell you, it's pretty uncomfortable here. i haven't seen a lot of people wearing masks. there is absolutely no social distancing going on within the crowd. it's extremely packed. i saw more people wearing masks as they were standing in line and entering, but it almost seemed like once they got in here it became almost entirely maskless. it's a pretty nice day in georgia.

so a lot of people are just kind of crowded together. not a lot of social distancing. again, not a lot of mask wearing. and you did see the president come on stage wearing a mask which we haven't seen a lot from him at all entirely. georgia has seen the highest number of cases go up today and as we head into the holiday season we know from experts that that's going to get worse. so it is a pretty concerning scene here on the ground. >> georgia's voter registration deadline is this monday. nbc's deepa shivaram and vaughn hilliard watching the senate race there's. thank you both. much appreciated. the campaign trail may still be busy in georgia but in washington folks are trying to wind down for the holidays. there's not usually much work to get done between thanksgiving and christmas, but congress needs to pass three critical bills before the recess. here's where things stand right now. this week president trump threatened to veto the bill that funds the military unless congress changes the laws governing tech companies like social networks. mr. trump wants to get rid of section 230 of the communications decency act. section 230 protects companies from liability for content posted by their users.

republicans made it clear they are not open to this demand and they moved forward with the defense bill. meanwhile, government funding is set to run out on december 11th. but congressional budget watchers thankfully do not expect a shutdown. yesterday house speaker nancy pelosi announced that she wants to attach a coronavirus stimulus plan to a $1.4 trillion spending package. pelosi said that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell agrees with this proposal. this would be the first time in weeks that these lawmakers have discussed another round of covid relief. here to break this all down for us is amber phillips, political reporter for the "washington post." amber, good evening. >> hey, joshua. >> how's the path look for getting these three bills done? are there any major road blocks or do we actually have room for hope? >> oh, gosh. the path looks super rocky but also possible. let me say that. and i say that as time is

ticking really, really close toward the end. you mentioned december 11th as kind of the main date for almost everything. that's in particular because that's when the government runs out of money. that's friday. and as you just said, house speaker nancy pelosi has said essentially the only which she sees congress being able to move forward on coronavirus stimulus is to tie it, this big almost 1 trillion bipartisan bill on coronavirus stimulus, to tie it to spending. because no one in congress actually wants a shutdown. they just can't deal with another crisis right now. and then in addition to that you have something that congress almost always agrees with all the time for the past 60 years. which is a defense spending bill to continue to fund our troops, gives this year troops another pay raise among many other things, coronavirus presentation that's at risk because of president trump. as you said, throwing in his battle against big tech in there that has nothing to do with defense spending. it does look like republicans are going to call his bluff on that. but all these things are tied

together politically in a way that if you pull on one string you could pull all of it apart. and they don't have much time to figure it out. >> so i wonder what that means, for example, in terms of, say, funding the government or getting covid relief. if republicans in congress were not willing to accede to the president's demand over fighting big tech as a condition of funding the united states military, does that bode well for the rest of these measures? i mean, granted, they could just pass a short-term spending bill, basically a continuing resolution, say keep funding the government at the level we're funding it right now until we get back and then we'll fix it. but even that will be better than the government shutting down. does that give us more room to believe they'll get it done? >> yeah, i think you're right. it's possible, what i'm hearing in my reporting, is they just kick the can down the road for a spending bill and they also do that for a defense bill. which like i said would be the first time in 60-ish years

they've done that rather than fund it at new levels. so that would be notable. but there are ways out of this. if we get to like thursday or friday morning and they don't have a deal. but you mentioned republicans. and i think republicans in the senate in particular play a really important role in all of these negotiations and that's because there's a sizable chunk of conservatives who do not want to spend any new money beyond funding the government in the defense bill. they do not think there needs to be an injection of stimulus money even after really poor jobs numbers that came out on friday for the month of november. so mitch mcconnell has to negotiate around that. and what we're really seeing come out of that is this rise of centrists. people like mitt romney and susan collins on the republican side and joe manchin on the democratic side tried to exercise power that they really haven't had in these broad bipartisan -- in these broad negotiations because they just haven't been partisan in the past. and so what i'm watching for is whether republicans call trump's

bluff on some of these veto threats but also some of their conservative republicans' bluffs and just say okay, we don't need you, we're going to find a way to pass all this stuff without you. >> this week a bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a $908 billion bill for? relief to the american people. that bipartisan group that made the announcement did not include mitch mcconnell or chuck schumer, but it seems like they say that there is enough support on both sides to maybe have that conversation. what do you think of that particular bill in terms of being able to get? relief to the american people? does it look like it's got a chance? >> i would say, joshua, we're the closest we've been since this summer when negotiations fell apart to actually getting coronavirus stimulus aid to americans. and what that would mean according to this bill which is still being worked out is about $300 extra in unemployment insurance for millions of americans, money to help schools, hungry children, paycheck protection act to help small businesses, but no stimulus checks for now of about $1,200 for a wider swath of americans.

i was so interested this week, let me say this, to see the top house democrat nancy pelosi and top senate democrat chuck schumer come out in a joint statement and say okay, we're willing to consider this, because it's about half of what they've been saying is their absolute bottom line since july. 2 trillion or bust. well, here they are saying you know what, 900 billion is something we're willing to talk about. what i have not seen yet is senate majority leader mitch mcconnell be as publicly open to it. we know he spoke with pelosi this week. that's significant. but that's the next step i'm watching for. does he say okay, you know what, i'm okay spending money for this unemployment, for example, or to help fund state and localities that are really struggling in the name of getting something done. i haven't seen that yet. >> amber phillips, political reporter for the "washington post." amber, thanks very much. >> thank you. we've got more on the latest

covid measures ahead this hour. we will check in on california. parts of that state are preparing for a new stay-at-home order. also, president-elect joe biden continues to put his cabinet together. an obama administration veteran will serve as the country's top doctor. we expect more announcements this week on the team that will play key roles in the pandemic response. we're live in delaware where mr. biden's spending the weekend. also president trump has raised more than $200 million since election day in his unsuccessful efforts to overturn the results. what happens to all that money? and who's donating it? nbc news legal analyst danny suvalose has been doing some digging. he will share what he's found. and it took nearly two years, but the boeing 737 max will start carrying passengers again after two fatal crashes. what's being done to reassure everyone that the plane is safe now? that's all coming up as "the week" continues on msnbc. week" continues on msnbc humira patients,... ...this one's for you.

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the biden administration will have its hands full from day one. once the transition is complete, the new administration will be responsible for getting the coronavirus pandemic under control. that has rarely been a topic of conversation for president trump since he lost the election. the former surgeon general, dr. vivek murthy, is expected to return to that job next year. he routinely briefed the now president-elect about the pandemic during the campaign. he's also co-chair of mr. biden's coronavirus task force. we're expecting more announcements about the health team early next week. those include his picks for the secretary of health and human services, the director of the cdc, and other officials who will coordinate the pandemic response. let's continue now with nbc political reporter ali vitali who joins us from wilmington, delaware. ali, what more do we know about the way this team is shaping up? there's been a lot of pressure on the transition team not only on just who -- on what ends of the political spectrum they

should pick but about the diversity of the team as well. what do we know about where that stands? >> reporter: yeah. speculation and pressure from all sides right now because you're right, joshua, there is the political pressure from the different parts of the democratic party. progressives want to see representation in this cabinet. of course biden has trended more moderate himself. what we're seeing in these picks so far is a premium put on government experience. many of the people that we've learned about so far have roots in some way in the obama administration. but remember the stakes right now. not that any of us could forget. we're still in the midst of a pandemic that is only getting worse. biden ran on being the person who could tackle this crisis as well as the other crises that 2020 has thrown at us. we've also seen during this time an economic recession, a continued reckoning on racial injustice in this country. and look no further than the way the pandemic has broken down in terms of racial disparities, hitting communities of color even harder than other parts of

this country. all of that underscores the need not just for a diverse cabinet but especially for someone like the health and human services secretary. and it explains why we're seeing several groups push for that person in particular to be a person of color. but you're right, there has been a lot of conversation so far about the diversity in the biden cabinet, and it's why biden is being pressed on it. listen to his response to this latest round of pressure. >> there haven't been a whole lost public-facing events this week. there aren't any -- >> i promise you it will be the single most diverse cabinet based on race, color, based on gender that's ever existed in the united states of america. >> he has thus far put forward historic nominees for a number of these positions. and i would remind you that we've only made 8 of 23 cabinet nominations at this point. >> reporter: so joshua, i would point out, though, on the diversity front at the beginning when we saw biden first start rolling out these cabinet picks there was a lot of praise for

the number of people who were historic in their roles. people like janet yellen being the first woman who could potentially have confirmed to lead the treasury department in its more than 230-year history. now, though, what we've seen over the course of the last few days and weeks is less praise and more pressure. a lot of groups from the congressional black caucus to the congressional hispanic caucus all the way to the naacp all making sure biden continues not just with the trend of diversity but also putting them in key positions, making sure that his four core cabinet members are not just white people, white men and women but instead you have people of color in those all-important rules like atop d.o.d. as well as atop the department of justice. so all of this pressure ramping up as we've watched the biden transition basically urge a little patience, they're not done yet. but certainly that pressure campaign is still there. >> nbc political reporter ali vitali joining us from wilmington, delaware. ali, much appreciated. thanks very much. the president's legal challenges to the election continue to fail in court. but his team has still

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since election day president trump's political operation has raised more than $200 million. his team is fund-raising off his various efforts to challenge the election based on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. but most of the proceeds are going to a leadership pac called save america. the president created it just days after the election was called against him. nbc's danny cevallos is following the money. >> reporter: since the election president trump has been raising a lot of money on his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. we know that trump hasn't had much success actually challenging the results of the election in court. still, the campaign announced it and the rnc raised more than $200 million between election day and november 23rd.

part of the fund-raising push comes from nearly 500 e-mails in november, many of them pointing to this website, asking for donations purportedly meant to fund their efforts for recounts and the legal battles associated with them. but a look at the fine print tells a different story. in the days after the election as much as 60% of the fund's proceeds were slated to go towards remaining campaign debt. and now the fine print has changed. designating that up to 75% of donations will now go to trump's political action committee save america. if you take a look at the campaign website, there are a few things that deserve a closer look. for example, two boxes are automatically checked. the first sets donors up for automatic monthly donations. the second sets up a second payment of $5 to be withdrawn on december 5th. but you can also see this here. "your contribution will benefit trump make america great again committee." and the fine print is below.

with money going to a slew of trump and gop entities. large donations will go to the rnc's legal proceedings or headquarters account. so is all of this kosher? when does it go beyond just not reading the fine print and into deceptive practices that could be legally challenged? in the consumer world it's usually on the consumer to read the fine print. most people sign or click through documents that are legally binding without even looking at the fine print. in this case while the solicitation may be misleading the fine print is there. so it's lawful. of course, if the solicitation contains a false statement it doesn't matter what size font it's in. it crosses the line into fraud. then there's the gray area. a statement that is technically true but misleading or it omits an important fact. the fine print is not just a saying. courts really do care if the important stuff is in a tiny font compared to the rest of the language. take a look at this e-mail from november 12th.

that pushes people to the fund-raising site. the subject is "proof of election fraud." but the e-mail doesn't provide that proof and the campaign hasn't backed up just claims with anything that's held up in court. now, the subject line is really just a subject. it could mean they're looking for proof of fraud. but it's vague to be sure. this is starting to enter the gray area. perhaps the real question is do trump's donors even care? >> nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos joins us now. danny, let's pick up where you left off. have you heard anything from trump supporters? are they expressing any concern about where their money's going? >> they don't seem concerned so far. and in fact, maybe ultimately all of this parsing out where the dollars go doesn't really matter to the people making the donations. >> can you break down these restrictions on how the money are spent? i mean, a leadership pac. there are so many different kinds of political action groups. what are the boundaries in terms of what they can do with this

money? >> a leadership pac is fascinating. they've been around since the '70s, and originally they were created as an account that exists outside the purview of the federal elections committee or commission to even look at. they don't really even seem to care about this. they were originally used by leadership members in congress to spend down among folks in their small area elections and then those folks would be beholden to the congress folks when they got into congress. so it was kind of a -- like a slush fund and you could use it for basketball tickets or games or going out, all kinds of stuff that you would never be able to use if it was an actual campaign finance issue. >> i want to make sure i follow what you're talking about here. in terms of the way this money is used, the kind of fund, this leadership pac, governs the way the money can be used. you just used the term "slush fund." slush fund in other contexts immediately means you need to lawyer up. but because it's in this thing that is structured this way it's not necessarily unlawful. i think this kind of speaks in a way to why so many people are still peeved after citizens united let's say, with the way

money and influence moves through politics and that this money can be used for things that are rather opaque at first. >> yeah, i'm hoping now i put the word "kind of" in front of slush fund because i don't want to get anyone angry at me. but yeah, that's what knees leadership pacs are all about. they exist in a world that isn't really overseen, and so for that reason -- and their purpose is to spend to influence other members of congress. but what really happened is other members of congress saw their leadership using these pacs and they thought i've got to get in on it and they created their own leadership pacs. and now lots of folks in congress have leadership pacs and they use them for all kinds of things you would normally never be able to use campaigns for. so is this an issue that people

should be concerned about? maybe. but then you go back to the whole point of if they're clicking through and checking the boxes willingly and making those donations then there's an argument that there isn't really a victim. >> i can see a "save america" sign in the crowd there now where the president is speaking in valdosta, georgia. before i have to let you go, danny, i think the big question is can president trump just take the money from this leadership pac and put it in his pocket, drop it into the trump organization or just pocket it? like is that possible? >> in a sense. it can be used to help his family members. i think something as blatant as writing a check to yourself and stuffing the money in your pocket, that might be a problem. but look, if you can use those tickets for basketball games and sporting events and everything else, well, then it's not really that far of a stretch to say you're essentially putting money in your pocket. it really is a gray area. >> nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos, we appreciate your reporting on this. thanks very much. up next, boeing 737 max is

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strong relief - [anthat can leave cleaning gaps and wrap hair. so shark replaced them with flexible power fins to directly engage floors and dig deep into carpets. pick up more on every pass with no hair wrap. shark vertex with duoclean power fins. in march 2019 the boeing 737 max was grounded indefinitely. a design flaw caused two deadly crashes that killed more than 300 people.

now the jetliner is set to return to the skies after major upgrades and new training for pilots. will that be enough to convince you that boeing 737s are safe? nbc aviation correspondent tom costello has more. >> reporter: no plane has ever been grounded for so long. for 20 months the 737 max has sat on air fields around the world. but on wednesday this max took to the skies. an american airlines demonstration flight from dallas to tulsa. the airline eager to reassure passengers the plane is safe. after the faa approved major upgrades and lifted the grounding last month. american's top max pilots say it's not the same plane that was involved in two overseas crashes, killing 346 people. >> the focus on that is to make sure this doesn't happen again. the redundancy is built in. control is never taken away from the pilots. >> now you can control that side, i can control this side. >> reporter: before it can fly technicians must upload a

six-hour software fix to the automated mcas system blamed for contributing to both crashes. the faa also requiring some wiring changes and new requirements for pilots who fly the max. by the end of march all 2,700 american airlines 737 pilots will be cross-trained on the max and need to go through similar training. >> so it's a really safe environment for pilots to get to practice and be trained on those types of events. so if they do occur in the real world they know exactly how to react to it. >> reporter: but getting the plane updated is only part of the challenge. every airline must convince the flying public the max is safe. american will start with a single max passenger flight in late december and early january, miami to new york round-trip. passengers will be told in advance they're booked on a max with the option to rebook. >> our promise to any customer that flies with us is if you get on the 737 max and you don't want to fly we're going to allow you to change. >> reporter: but the families of the ethiopian crash victims called american's demonstration

flight a media stunt, writing "passengers should avoid this aircraft because others are safer." still, for boeing and the airlines getting the max back in the air is critical to their financial recovery. every passenger who is booked on a max will be told in advance they're booked on a max. the information will be on their boarding pass and also on the booking e-mail. if they're not comfortable with that, every airline says they can rebook without any penalty whatsoever. joshua? >> thank you, tom. that's nbc's tom costello reporting. coming up, health officials in california are expecting covid-19 to make this a rough winter. we will take you to san jose, where hospitals are quickly running out of space. r eaten healthier. shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible. good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection.

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the numbers tell the story. america's fight against covid-19 is not going well. this week more than 11,000 americans lost their lives to the disease. on thursday the national daily

death toll hit a new high. more than 2,800 people. with deaths, cases, and hospitalizations on the rise the cdc has issued new guidance for universal mask wearing. officials now say that you should wear a mask indoors whenever you are not at home. in california a sweeping new stay-at-home order will take effect across the bay area tomorrow night. it will stay in place until january 4th. a similar order will kick in tomorrow at midnight in areas including los angeles and san diego. nbc's scott cohn joins us now with more from san jose. scott, explain the state's new rules in terms of when it will set shutdowns in different parts of the state. >> reporter: yeah, it's almost all of the state for all intents and purposes, joshua. it affects the state's five most populous cities. los angeles, san diego, san jose where i am, san francisco, and fresno. all covered by this. and it really is all driven by

hospital capacity. and we're looking at restrictions that are not quite as severe as what we saw with the initial stay-at-home orders in march but nonetheless all sit-down dining, outdoor and indoor now, will be gone. it's takeout only. salons, barber shops, things like that will be closed. restrictions on capacity in retail establishments. restrictions on non-essential travel. all of that going into effect, again, for much of the state beginning tomorrow night. >> since you mentioned icu capacities, how are icus doing tonight in terms of their capacity? >> reporter: they're not doing well. they are really stretched. and you can take a look. the state has boiled this down to regions. it's a little bit misleading, though, because there are pockets that are even more severe within some of these regions. the most severe is the san joaquin valley. that includes fresno and the central valley, where we're down

below 10% of capacity. southern california not far behind. the bay area looks on paper to be not so bad, but again, there are pockets that are bad like where i am in san jose. many of the bay area counties are going ahead with these restrictions even before they would officially take into effect the cutoff point as far as the state is concerned is 15%, but they're not waiting here in the bay area. >> also the bay area has been benefiting from years of expansion of medical centers with kaiser permanente and stanford and california pacific medical center building other hospitals around the region. they've kind of benefited from years of just having a hospital system that has kind of grown itself. what does this look like for the holidays, though? regardless of where you are in california, there's got to be a lot of concern among all icu staff about what the next month or so is going to bring. >> yeah. and for example, you talk about infrastructure here in northern california, but it is stretched. so the regional medical center here in san jose, they're down to about 10% of capacity, and

the staff is working really hard. the other thing they have going for them is they have experience because they were among the first in the country to deal with a surge of this back in the spring. but they're still concerned as you said about the holidays and what's to come in the terms of the act to deal with this? they got to be struggling like everybody else, to some extent, i assume. >> they're confident with how to deal with the disease because they have that experience as some parts of the country do not but what they're concerned about is they're just working so hard in just dealing with this surge of patients and so they're imploring people wear your mask. practice social distancing. wash your hands. all of that. the icu nurse we talked to today said look, it's first and goal, end of the fourth quarter, no sense fumbling the ball because we have over the goal line that vaccine which is not far away.

>> thank you for reporting from san jose, much appreciated. speaking of health care workers this recent wave of covid hospitalization is putting more stress on our already exhausted health care workers. this week, some nurses share their stories with us. >> as you can see i'm in all my ppe. about to head into my patient's room. it's about 3:30 in the morning this is my fourth shift in a row. >> here in the er we can't move patients fast enough, when that happens we're overwhelmed with the volume because we get stuck. >> sometimes it feels like there's no end in sight. we have hope, but for now our every day lives are pretty -- pretty strained. >> it's always in your face. when i come to work i deal with covid patients.

when i go home i don't get to hug my kids, i have say four and eight-year-old. they don't run to the door any more. because we don't give hugs when i get home. >> one the more difficult parts for the covid patients is they can't have family here. it puts a different spin on our care where we really feel that we have to be, you know, the emotional support for our patients. >> i can't touch numbers. i don't understand what 230,000 or 240,000 deaths looks like. but as a frontline health care worker, i can understand and i can describe the zipper on a body bag makes. i know the feeling of my hand on a chest and the feeling of two minutes of cpr before the next pulse check. i can describe with great detail

the odd and very ugly color of purplish gray you turn when your body is suffocating. so for me, whereas i can't understand the numbers, i can understand the humans behind those numbers, i just ask you try to think beyond yourself, beyond those numbers, and really think about the lives and what you can do to make sure you're not the next number, you're not the next life that we put in a body bag. >> frontline health care worker speaking out near the end of a terribly rough year. thank you all for sharing your stories with us. coming up, spotify's music list is reminding us just how rough 2020 was, we'll scroll through our slightly embarrassing 2020 playlist when we come back. ♪ chicago!

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>> let tomorrow be about solutions. today is about vengeance. [ bleep ] you, 2020. get [ bleep ]. if ever a year deserved a

detonator, the boom on 2020 and season finale on last week tonight, impressively he didn't flinch when it blew up. 2020 has not been what we expected. the december of "time" magazine makes this claim this was for many americans the worse year ever, they've only used this symbolic x four times to mark the end of a long struggle and they point out overall quote if 2020 was a dystopian movie you would probably turn it off after 20 minutes. it was maddeningly mundane, the routine of every day turned against us. unquote. we were reminded of that this week when spotify released its personalized musical play list called 2020 wrapped. many folks blushed at the time capsule of our collective

misery, if you will. this track in green was apparently my number one song, loop no fade noise for baby sleep, hair drier white noise sleep, clearly i needed a lot of help getting to bed in 2020. can't imagine why. this was a trend among spotify muse users, while you were listening to your noises, you might have missed the top songs, most stream song "blinding lights" by the weekend and "dance monkey" by tones and "don't start now" we're ready to start a new hour at nbc news world headquarters in new york. tonight a dramatic new development for daca program that could be great news for dreamers. i'm joshua johnson and this is "the week".

plenty for us to talk about this hour, including a subpoena from immigration customs enforcement that's putting pressure on the press. and later, the controversy surrounding president trump's use of his pardon power. and the federal investigation it has launched. michael flynn got a pardon last week. will the president's children be next? >> then progressives push back against former president obama when he criticized the phrase "defund the police" saying it alienates moderates and we will explore with the cocreator of "occupy wall street". also coronavirus vaccines are on the way, how will they get to you, we will look at the logistical challenges vaccinating hundreds and millions of americans. and why are some of us partying through the pandemic and putting others as risk? i'll share my thoughts in tonight's essay.