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we are so grateful. "the beat with katie phang" starts now. >> it's so good to see you. welcome to "the beat." i'm katie phang in for ari melber. we're going to start with what could be a consequential plea deal. the "new york times" reporting former trump organization ceo alan weisselberg is in negotiations with manhattan prosecutors to plead guilty again, but this time to the charge of perjury. now, this deal would require weisselberg to have to admit that he lied on the witness stand in trump's civil fraud trial and that he lied under oath in an interview with the new york attorney general's office. weisselberg previously admitted to orchestrating an off-the-books scheme within the trump organization for which he spent 100 days at rikers jail last year.

this breaking news just came out from the "new york times." your reaction to this news? i guess timing is everything, right? we are waiting for judge arthur engoron to issue his ruling on the remaining counts that were under trial the last few weeks. do you think that's why we haven't received anything yet from justice engoron? >> that's a great question. i think he's probably taking his time on that opinion because it's an important one. it's very consequential. really, i think, regarding this news, what i would just say is that you have to know that alan weisselberg is giving alvin bragg and his team a heck of a lot. realistically, a prosecutor putting a witness up for the prosecution who's pleading guilty to perjury, you know, that's not going to be a very attractive witness. so in order for that witness to be worth the time, they've got to be giving up something really

important. that's what i think is really the news here. >> part of what could happen from alan weisselberg pleading guilty to perjury is the deterrent effect to other trump supporters or trump witnesses that could also themselves be considering, you know what, maybe i shouldn't take the stand under oath under penalties of perjury because people are listening very carefully to what i'm saying. >> yes. it could absolutely deter the trump team from trying to put up witnesses who are willing to lie on the the stand. i think the fact you have a potential trump witness lying on the stand could factor into the justice's decision about the kinds of penalties he is to order in this case. if the trump team is still trying to conceal what they did and going so far as to lie in court, that's a pretty good

argument you need additional penalties. the mere process of liability is not enough to deter them. >> we do have that manhattan d.a.'s trial set to go in march. there's a big hearing coming up on february 15th that could determine whether or not it actually goes to trial. we're heard reports that someone like alan weisselberg is not going to be a critical witness for alvin bragg. do you think that could play into the calculus of whether or not this new plea deal that could come out of weisselberg could influence on whether it would make sense to put pressure on weisselberg to cooperate? >> i suspect this plea deal is part of a broader cooperation that he may have with alvin bragg and his team. i find it hard to believe that there's just going to be a plea to perjury and nothing more is going to come of it than that. i would really suspect that

alvin bragg and his team are looking for ways to make their case stronger. they know it's not going to be an easy trial. they know donald trump is going to try to make a circus out of it like he has the last couple trials. the jury is going to be skeptical to the somebody who pleaded guilty for perjury. you have to think weisselberg may have some receipts. tonight, we're also learning more details about donald trump's growing legal bills. he's facing 91 legal charges across four criminal cases and those attorney's fees are piling up. newly filed campaign disclosures show trump spent over $55 million of donor money on legal fees in 2023.

politico reports that overall trump has spent more than he raised last year in 2023 thanks, in part, to these massive legal expenses. his save america pac filing listing 47 law firms and attorneys. it's not just legal. one eye brow-raising line item revealing a trump pac continues to spend $18,000 per month to a french american fashion designer that's close to melania trump for, quote, strategy consulting. when asked about the campaign funds, trump appeared to dodge. >> are you thinking of potentially trying to use campaign money to pay some of those penalties that you might incur? >> what penalties? >> in the new york fraud case, in the defamation case. >> i didn't do anything wrong. that's been proven as far as i'm concerned. >> with many more trials ahead this year, those legal expenses

are projected to surge. the "washington post" calculating trump already owes $88 million in gag orders, fines and damages that areracked up from two of his civil trials alone. and hundreds of millions more could imminently be added to that bill from the new york civil fraud trial. big question on a lot of minds, putting aside the astronomical amount of $55 million in fees, is it even legal for trump to be spending donor money on his legal fees? >> i think it is. obviously at times he is, for example, using money that he has raised from donors for purely personal suits. the carroll suit, that might be an issue, although he's going to claim that was part of his official duties.

for example, january 6th, he's going to say that was part of his duty as president. as a matter of fact, he's making the absurd argument that he has immunity for doing that. it's legal, but i think the issue is what does this mean for trump going forward? all of his donor money is going towards legal fees. he now has 88 million in fines. we have another decision coming very soon that's likely going to be hundreds of millions more in fines. we don't know his liquidity. we don't know how much money he has on hand. you have to wonder at a certain point if his businesses have enough money to keep operating. is donald trump running for president just to pay his legal bills and fines? that may be actually the situation we're in right now. >> game this out with me for a second. trump running for office right now, loses in november. he loses again to joe biden. he still maybe doesn't go to trial. maybe goes to trial on one case by november of 2024.

is that when the prospect of him being able to continue the grift of people donating to fund legal fees, maybe it stops? because if he doesn't finish all his legal exposure in 2024 and he's no longer a candidate, do you think people would say, you know what, i'm not going to fund someone's legal fees to the tune of millions and millions of dollars? >> it's difficult to know, because we don't know exactly what kind of lies he will feed them, whether he'll continue to do something like stop the steal. one of the most dangerous things about trump as a candidate for office is he has always been willing to put his personal interests above the public interest and above the law. when the election didn't go his way, he called on people to fight back. and here he is asking people to pay his legal fees.

he was willing to open himself up to foreign officials, continuing to allow them to frequent his hotels and businesses. this is just part of that general trend in his actions that, again, makes him so incompatible with public service and the presidency. >> when you look at that sec filing and see where the money went, it goes to some law firms that are not just representing donald trump, but representing walt nauta, representing people in atlanta that are part of that rico case. talk about the optics of donald trump pacs, people that are donating money ostensibly for the idea of trump becoming president of the united states again, funding the legal expenses for codefendants and coconspirators? >> there's nothing more frustrating to prosecutors than when a defendant in a case is

funding all the witnesses' legal fees. it's not uncommon. in the law there's this idea that we want people to be able to afford lawyers, so there's a liberal, permissive view toward any third party paying someone's legal fees. that's the reality of it. of course it creates an optics issue. of course prosecutors are frustrated. walt nauta seems to be acting against his own interests. all these other people are flipping and getting great deals and essentially sitting at the government's table and on their side. walt nauta stands alone with trump and potentially is facing a massive amount of time in prison, a massive penalty for that. it's not clear what sort of legal advice he's getting. >> doesn't that actually then maybe help the prosecution by being able to show that the

funding of the defense is a collective defense and that, for example, in fulton county, the fact that donald trump is funding some of the defendants and the fact that in mar-a-lago in the ft. pierce case he's funding the defense fees. that's why you see that consolidated defense that seems to be suspiciously consistent. >> it's an argument that a prosecutor can make and will make, that by providing this money for their legal defense, trump is continuing to keep them under the tent. that is also creating problems for the prosecution, because it's partially what has led to some of the delay in the mar-a-lago case. so it's creating some problems for prosecutors even at the same time that it might offer them some evidence about what is actually going on here.

>> i will say as i say good-bye to you guys, one of the people that they did pay was kenneth chesebro. he took a plea anyway. coming up, why one gop lawmaker is talking about america becoming a, quote, post-constitution society. also, what's the hottest new trend among ultra rush and what it says about our country's wealth gap. that's right, million dollar closets. and by the end of the hour, elmo sparks serious conversations about america's mental health. first, gop lawmakers busted for opposing legislation just because it might help joe biden. because it might help joe biden.

meet the traveling trio. each helping to protect their money with chase. wooo! tools that help protect. alerts that help check. one bank that puts you in control. chase. make more of what's yours. it doesn't get more brazen than this. republican senator chuck grassley threatening to block

money for american families because, quote, passing a tax bill would make president biden look good. he's talking about a bipartisan bill that just passed the house to give money to low income families with kids while also providing business tax cuts. let's be clear here. this deal would extend funding that lifted an estimated 400,000 kids from poverty in its first year alone. it's not just chuck grassley. other republicans are threatening to block a bipartisan border deal just to hurt president biden. roll the tape. >> why would i help joe biden improve his dismal 33% when he can fix the border and secure it on his own? >> we can't pass a bill that possibly will make it harder for trump to do his job. >> no secret here, it comes from the top of the maga pyramid. first, trump publicly calling on republicans to scuttle the deal. then mitch mcconnell doing the bidding of his supreme leader

saying, quote, we don't want to do anything to undermine trump. we're in a quandary. big picture, it's the mcconnell playbook on steroids. in 2010 he infamously said, quote, the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term president. he wanted to stop obama more than he wanted to help americans. it's his own words. now gop leaders are getting even more offensive. when biden came into office, they started talking about a, quote, half term. listen to the shift. >> our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> at one point, he said he wanted to make sure barack obama was a one-term president. i want to make joe biden a one-half-term president.

>> chuck grassley clearly saying the quiet part out loud along some other republicans. the real question is, are americans listening? >> don't worry, katie. these men are nihilist, to paraphrase a line from "the big lebowski." of course americans are paying attention. what is on full display here is the republican party is a deeply unserious party with no governing philosophy, no real policy objectives. in this case, it means denying american children something to eat or a lifeline to get out of poverty. or in the case of their pet issue of the moment, they can no longer talk about the border, because trying to solve the border crisis by governing is

not what they do. this is who they are, this is what they are, and they are not going to change. i suspect even they are impervious to losing elections, because this posture has resulted in election loss after election loss. yet, they still remain with this same single-minded, one-track approach of being obstructionists for the sake of obstructionism. it tells me they're a cult. >> the obstruction is profound. gop obstruction is a hallmark of the obama era. this congress, the 118th congress, the most unproductive in united states history. i hate so ask, but could it get

worse? >> absolutely it could get worse, especially if they maintain control or gain control of the senate in 2024 and if trump is reelected. we have not seen the bottom. i think that republicans are committed to dragging us to the depths, even against policies where they are getting concessions. i look at the border deal and concessions have been made repeatedly. so it's clear that their objective is that type of nihilist obstruction. they're hoping for chaos. they're hoping for crisis. they're hoping the economy fails. why? because they think that's the political calculus that's going to change anything for them at the polls. the reality is when people see this, when democrats amplify the stories and connect the dots for families who have been at a loss when these bills don't get through, that's critical here. what is telling is, these policies are popular. look at the expanded child tax

credit. 71% of likely voters support that, including 66% of republican voters. that are indiscriminately harming american families all because trump told them to. they've been doing his bidding since the inauguration is 2017. they're not backing away from him for anything. >> here's more from a hard-right congressman on why he wants to impeach joe biden. take a quick listen. >> what are you hoping to gain from an impeachment inquiry? >> all i can say is donald trump 2024. >> i mean, we could sit here for years and talk about that. how does something like that impact how moderates and independents consider where they're going to park their vote? >> of course it does. what's really going on here is it is showing the contempt that

these republicans in congress at the levels of power in washington have for the voters. they're assuming that, well, if we don't let biden get anything done, they're going to forget we were involved and they're just going to place the blame on biden. it doesn't work that way. the last several election cycles republicans for anticipating red waves galore, and the opposite has happened. in this case, more moderate voters, more independent voters and even some republican voters -- i know this is going to shock a lot of folks, but there is an increasing number of registered republicans saying this is just too much. to go and squelch a border deal that they have been screaming about, the caravans, the border, the assault and this and that, it's on the brink of passage and they scuttle it for politics. there is no greater hypocrisy than this moment.

independent and moderate voters are paying attention. >> we have heard reports about talks of regret within the senate republican conference, for example, where republicans are like, we haven't had this type of border deal on the table in a long time. what are the ramifications if we don't step in and support ukraine? some republicans are thinking about the consequences of inaction, and they're seeing how this could continue to harm them as a party and harm us as a nation down the line. >> when does the fever break for the more normal people that are republicans? because when is it enough? i feel like we're always having these conversations. we talk about how it's hurting americans, not just democrats. it hurts republicans. it hurts all americans for the gop to be this dysfunctional.

are americans listening? are they paying attention to the fact that it's hurting them and it's always at the hands of the gop? >> i feel like we have two levels of fever here. i started by telling you we haven't reached the bottom yet. the republican party are not going to reach a fever pitch until the entire system collapses. they want full chaos. they don't know how to disabuse themselves of the cult or shift. expect the republican party to continue its decline. voters have shown time and time again that this is enough. look at 2020, 2022, 2023 and hopefully in 2024 voters will keep their eyes open. voters aren't as dumb as the republican party hopes they are. there is agency here. what i'm concerned about in this election cycle is fatigue. when you overwhelm the general

population with repeated blocking and obstruction and chaos, that does wear people down. >> i have less than 30 seconds. my last question is, are voters going to say, you know, what i'm not going to go, because even when i go and vote, it's completely derailed because of the obstruction happening in d.c. >> voters have made that change. voting for joe biden has led to the most consequential action from the united states government in 60 years. voters have seen that, and they are responding in kind. republicans want to create this mantra of no one's going to turn out at the election. quite the opposite is happening. republicans have only one one presidential popular vote once in the last six presidential

elections. you keep asking the reasonable questions you do, but they have no answer. they don't know what to do. they're caught without a solution because they have none. by the end of the show, how the 1% lives. revelations of million dollar closets with tanning booths and champagne bars. inequality continues to grow. also in this polarized time, elmo goes viral, spotlighting america's mental health crisis. first we have attacks on democracy spreading with new threats in plain sight. >> it is long pastime for texas to just go ahead and tell the federal government, no, i do not want to live in a post constitutional world, but this court is pushing our hand. the court needs to know that. p. the court needs to know that

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we're following the potential for a major constitutional crisis as the gop is calling on texas to openly defy the united states supreme court. governor greg abbott vowing to ignore the high court's decision allowing the biden administration to remove razor wire installed on the southern border. the wire intended to stop migrant crossings. the biden administration arguing that the wire actually impedes

border patrol from doing its job. abbott being cheered on by high-profile gop leaders, who are encouraging his unlawful defiance. he's receiving support from 25 gop-led states, some saying that the feud between the texas governor and the biden administration is turning into a constitutional crisis. texas congressman chip roy even musing about a, quote, post-constitutional world. >> it is long past time for texas to go ahead and tell the federal government, no, i do not want to live in a post-constitutional world, but this court is pushing our hand, and the court needs to know that. >> this is coming from the so-called law and order party. chip roy followed up those remarks on fox news encouraging other republican governors to defy the supreme court and to defy federal law. >> i'm glad that republican governors around the nation that

are saying we stand with greg abbott and texas. but okay. now what? do you really stand with us? are you sending the national guard? are you going to tell president biden to pound sand, that we're not going to follow whatever nonsense he's trying to force upon the people? >> we've seen firsthand what happens when republicans encourage this kind of flagrant disregard for the law. donald trump's determination to unlawfully subvert the peaceful transfer of power already led to an attempted coup on january 6th, for which he is now facing criminal charges for his involvement. he has only escalated his rhetoric since then, giving glimpses of what he promises will be an authoritarian second term. >> you're promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except on day one. >> except on day one. >> except for day one. >> i said i want to be a dictator for one day. sean, i only want to be a

dictator for one day! >> joining me is michael beschloss, nbc news presidential historian. michael, we're always having these conversations, and yet the moment deserves it, because now we see somebody like greg abbott. he's always been instigator but he's flouting federal authority. has this border issue reached the level of a constitutional crisis? >> not yet, but it has happened in the past. i'm not saying we're on the verge of a civil war like 1861, but what was happening in 1861 was that southern governors and southern officials were saying we southern states have to withdraw from the united states because we disagree about this issue of slavery. abraham lincoln, the incoming

president said, you can't do that because that's against the constitution. we wound up fighting a war for four years. that's not going to happen this time. may god forbid that should ever happen. but the tighter parallel is the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s. 1964, the supreme court said segregated schools in america are inherently inequal, so there has to be racial integration. to stop that, a lot of southern states said, we're going to have massive resistance to the supreme court and the federal government. we're going to pass a lot of state laws that defy federal power and we'll even do other things. there will be riots against people trying to integrate schools. the violence will get to be so great that americans will not be able to carry out the supreme court's order. in 1957, dwight eisenhower asked

the army to integrate little rock. those were not civil war conditions, but these areowe om. >> we're seeing greg abbott have people in law enforcement capacities openly defy what the united states supreme court has told them to do. now we have florida governor ron desantis, who on prior occasions has sent the florida national guard to assist greg abbott. he is going to be doing it again. there is action being taken to openly flout federal law. putting aside the hypocrisy, though, cherry picking the decisions and opinions you want to have from your supreme court, the ones you think help you if you are a republican governor,

how is there a cessation to this? how do you pump the brakes and make sure there's compliance on the part of these republican governors? >> well, our constitutional, as you well know, is based on a tension between states rights and federal rights. the times that have been dangerous for our democracy is when local officials carried on too far. what's unusual about the moment we're living in? what's unusual is that for the first time in all of american history you've got a likely nominee, donald trump, of one of the two major parties who has said, if i'm president, i'm going to be a dictator, i might suspend the constitution, and who in the past has incited and encouraged violence to achieve his aims, and who has suggested

if there's a biden victory this fall, perhaps people should go into the streets. this is a situation we have not had before, and it's dangerous. >> michael beschloss, as you said, hopefully history does not repeat itself in ways that would be so harmful. thank you for being here. still ahead, the lifestyles of the rich and famous, a brand new report exposing the growing rift between the 1% and, frankly, everyone else. first, black history month begins today as educators across the country are grappling with the right-wing crackdown on teaching about race. right-wing teaching about race. ♪♪ whoo! ♪♪ light work! ♪♪ next victims. ♪♪ you ready for this? ♪pump up the jam pump it up♪ introducing ned's plaque psoriasis. he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see.

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the same sensibility that informed those people to make it a criminal act for black people to read are the ancestors of the same people who are making it a criminal act for their own children to read. i don't see the difference between them. >> that was acclaimed author on the toni morrison. today marks the first day of black history month. many educators across the country are grappling with restrictions on how they can

teach it, if at all. 17 states have enacted laws le restricting how teaches can discuss race in the classroom. ron desantis here in florida leading the way with the most aggressive legislation with teachers facing jail time for simply teaching the truth. one teacher telling axios they're approaching teaching black history, quote, carefully, because no one wants to be fired. it's all part of a broader approach to whitewash american history. >> i don't think there should be a black history month. >> that particular passage wasn't saying that slavery was a benefit. it was saying there was resourcefulness and people acquired skilled in spite of slavery. wokeness is racism in and of itself. >> it's all activism.

it's all ideology. it's no history. >> we cannot perpetuate a lie to our students and push this propaganda leftist agenda teaching our kids to hate america. >> joining me now is britney cooper, professor of women's and gender studies. i get pretty mad when i watch that. it's a combination. i'm mad, i'm angry, but i'm sad these are the conversations we've been having now for god knows how long. i want to get your thoughts on this ongoing push to restrict black history in the classroom. it sounds like it's going to get to the point where you can't be black and even physically be in a classroom at this rate. >> that has been true for our history longer than the idea we have been able to read, have been able to be in a classroom. our default position in america is black people are not worthy of education, that they don't have a lot of chances that other

folks have. i think the thing we should recognize is that's what ron desantis is trying to do. he wants an undereducated citizenry so he can control them. this push on the right is designed to take away our ability to understand ourselves in history so that we are doomed to repeat that history. >> so what's the solution? i like coming to the table with a solution. the problem i'm seeing is how they're actually legalizing this. they're making it so that, for example, you have bills where you can't have these conversations where the teachers are fearing backlash by way of being fired or maybe even getting arrested for simply teaching history. the reality is they don't want us to learn about the sins of the father, right? >> that's right. they don't want us to learn about the sins of the father, the mother, the whole family. they don't want us to learn about the sins of the state

apparatus. the way that i learned black history was because my family members made a concerted effort to make sure i had a library card. when they had access to books, they sent me books. we're going to have to make a concerted push to make sure young folks have library cards. we don't have to concede this ground. we have to have people running for school boards and determining policy. we have to have parents showing up to school board meetings and reminding them that protecting this whitewash narrative for white children doesn't actually make the life of any american child better. it is amazing to me that in a country where we have literacy rates where most americans read at a sixth great level, that we think that the solution and the thing we need to be doing is reading less books.

it's also part of this insidious campaign not simply to whitewash history, but really to wipe black and brown folks off the map. the way you communicate that people are not valuable is you tell them that their stories don't matter. you tell them they are not worthy to teach themselves in school. it's something that should appall us all. it creates a society where we have less empathy to create justice. that is the point. these folks want to take us to a place where they build a world that is just for them and not for anybody who doesn't look like them. that is what this assault on books is all about. i fundamentally believe in the power of the people. it wasn't so long ago that we were in school and we didn't get to read lots of diverse books.

i didn't read lots of black history as a child growing up in the '80s and '90s in this country, but i had a community who made sure that i knew about other kinds of reading and knew where to get them. so we don't have to take this. we can continue to take our children to the library and continue to give them books. for my part, i'm writing books for children. i write books for children because that is my contribution. one of the ways we can do this is we've got to all commit to telling the most diverse stories we possibly can. >> to your point, they're not going to erase us. we're not going anywhere. thank you for being here. coming up next, gop governors rejecting summer food money for low income children despite the current food

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children are the greatest joy and our best hope for a better future. friends, they are the future. but did you know that millions of kids right here in our own backyard are facing hunger every day without healthy food? it's harder to grow, to thrive, to feel their best. the impact when children don't have enough to eat is tremendous because when you're hungry and your basic needs aren't being met, you cannot learn. that's why i'm here now, asking you to join me in helping end child hunger in america. this is a problem we know how to solve, and we can do it better by supporting no kid hungry for just $0.63 a day, only $19 a month. you can help provide healthy meals like a good breakfast in class to power kids through their days. breakfast in the classroom contributes to kids being more focused, which leads to higher grades. test scores, and simply just their well-being.

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ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. there's apparently a new status symbol for the 1% in america. million dollar closets. the "wall street journal" reporting on the hot new commodity in luxury homes, extravagant closets that feeching champagne bars, thumprint protected jewelry cases, built-in watch winders and clothing storage with dry

cleaning capabilities. a designer said one client spent over $1 million on a two story closet with an elevator. people are, of course, free to spend their money however they please, but for many, it can be jarring to see this level of wealth flaunted in this way. and it really puts a spotlight on america's wealth gap. u.s. income inequality grew through the pandemic years, some calling it a public health crisis. as one in eight u.s. households struggle with food insecurity. despite all this, republican governors in 15 states are rejecting summer food money for kids from low-income families. here's how that decision is impacting a food bank in alaska, a state that rejected those funds. >> ultimately, what it means is less food for families and children that need it. and a greater demand on our network of food banks and food pantries. >> the food bank of alaska say

they have seen an increasingly higher need for food than they normally do, especially this past year. >> food insecurity has continued to be an enormous challenge for food bank of alaska. we have just seen increasingly elevated levels of need across the state. >> we'll keep an eye on this to see if any gop-run states decide to reverse their decision and to accept this money. we'll be right back with one more thing about elmo and a surprising thing we learned today about a producer right here on "the beat" team. arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement. ( ♪♪ ) nothing brings us together like eggland's best eggs. ( ♪♪ )

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exhausted and shell shocked from what they've been through. every dollar you give can help bring a meal, a blanket, or simply hope to a child living in conflict. please call or go online to givenowtosave.org today with your gift of $10 a month, that's just $0.33 a day. we cannot forget the children in places like syria, born in refugee camps, playing in refugee camps, thinking of the camps as home. please call or go online to givenowtosave.org today with your gift of $10 a month. your gift can help children like ara in afghanistan, where nearly 20 years of conflict have forced the people into extreme poverty. weakened and unable to hold herself up, ara was brought to a save the children's center, where she was diagnosed and treated for severe malnutrition. every dollar helps. please call or go online to

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elmo shining a spotlight on today's mental health challenges. the sesame street star making waves on social media when he asked a very simple question, how is everybody doing? thousands of people responded, including some celebrities. rapper t. pain saying, quote, i'm just looking for somebody to

talk to and show me some love. rainn wilson adding i'm at a cross roads and frankly could use some support. elmo talked about it on the "today" show. >> you asked everybody how they're doing. how are you doing? >> thank you for asking. you know, elmo is really happy. and elmo is glad that he got to talk to a lot of people. and see how they're doing. it's important to remember that we all have a lot of feelings and that's okay. if you're feeling sad or worried or confused you can talk to someone you love and trust, and it's good to talk about it. >> that's a really important message, especially for today's young people. just one-third of teenagers say things are going well for them. elmo has been capturing the attention of children for decades, including some who are now part of "the beat" team. senior producer arielle mccoy was on sesame street as a