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Anti-Establishment Candidates Surge in Poll; 114 Dead in China, Residents Want Answers; Pro Athlete Strips Kids of Trophies; Amazon is a "Bruising Workplace". Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 17, 2015 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:29:58] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK. So glass half full, Nia -- I like that.

Some other strange results of this poll, most voters, most Republican voters think Trump did the worst in the debate. 21 percent say they don't even like Trump.

Is this the weirdest candidate ever, Stephen?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, I think so. He's certainly sustained his challenge a lot more than -- for a lot longer time than many people thought. But I think what's going on with these polls showing anti-establishment, unconventional politicians doing really well is that if you spend any time talking to conservative activists, there's deep disappointment that the likes of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have not been able to enact a more comprehensive conservative agenda in Washington.

That's why I think people at this early stage of the election are turning towards candidates who are anti-establishment and they're not real politicians. They're saying I could fix this and you don't need to go through the normal establishment political channels in Washington.

You know, the question is how long that's going to be sustained. Those numbers about likability and whether Mr. Trump is qualified to be president are going to be right at the forefront of voters' minds in six months when they actually cast their vote rather than talk to pollsters.

COSTELLO: So Donald Trump is trying to patch things up with the women of America, right, because he was on "NEW DAY" -- or actually Mr. Cohen, one of his campaign people, was on "NEW DAY" this morning. Donald Trump says the campaign will reveal how much Trump pays women in his organization and they want other candidates to do the same. This is what Mr. Cohen said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, EXECUTIVE V.P. TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Unlike the others, like Hillary at her Iowa fair said that she's the only one that can really understand women's rights and so on. Donald Trump's been living this for more than 30 years. He's not a gender-based payer. He's a performance-based payer meaning if you do the job, he doesn't care if your name is Mary or it's Joe. He wants the job done. He wants it done right.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: You're saying it's not just about what you say, it's about what you do, and you're saying that you're coming out with these numbers because you want to issue a challenge to the field. What's the challenge?

COHEN: That's right. I would like to see the other candidates, GOP as well as Democrat as well as Hillary. I would be curious to see how many males versus females she has in her organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Nia, I'd be up for that.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I think people want to see that. Again, you have Donald Trump's campaign sort of setting the terms of the debate. Who knows if Hillary Clinton is going to meet that challenge and release those numbers. They've also been challenging Jeb Bush calling his remark that you don't need half a billion dollars for women's health, talking about Planned Parenthood. They have said that was a 47 percent remark likening it to Mitt Romney's gaffe back in 2012.

So they're issuing all sorts of challenges. We'll see whether or not people actually follow through. Ironic here though because just ten days ago or so we were talking about Donald Trump and how he was going to damage the GOP's chances among women, damage his own chances among women voters in the GOP primary but here he is framing himself or Michael Cohen there framing Donald Trump as sort of on the vanguard in terms of women's rights and feminism -- sort of ironic.

COSTELLO: Yes. I think it's very ironic. I don't mean to laugh about it, but it's just such -- it's just been such a strange political season so far. Especially Donald Trump shows up for jury duty, right, Stephen. He hasn't five times before but this time he shows up because he thinks it's going to be kind of fun.

We think he's going to be dismissed, but he played it like a politician. The media surrounded him on the steps of the courthouse. He walked up the steps and at the top he turned and waved to people. They took pictures.

COLLINSON: Yes. I think that's a sign of the political evolution of Donald Trump in many ways. People didn't think he could be a very effective politician, but by putting out immigration plans, talking about women voters, putting on this show as he goes to jury duty, he's showing that he's actually quite an astute politician. He understands people. He understands audiences. And that's something that's going to be very interesting to watch.

Does he become more of a traditional politician? He came into this race with nothing to lose. Now he's leading in the polls. He does have something to lose and it will be interesting to see how he safeguards that position.

COSTELLO: Yes, it will, Stephen Collinson and Nia-Malika Henderson -- thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

[10:34:18] COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, demanding answers. Hundreds of Chinese residents forced from their homes want to know where are they going to live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: 2,000 Chinese soldiers are searching around the site of this blast in northern China. They're looking for any dangerous chemicals. In the meantime people living in the area are demanding answers from the government. Many worried about lingering contamination from the explosions.

As anger grows, so does the death toll. There are now 114 confirmed deaths, 70 others still missing. Here is more from CNN's Will Ripley.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol -- the closer we get to the blast site, the more it becomes clear just how devastatingly powerful these explosions were. Look at this, 20 people were sleeping in this. It was a dormitory for migrant workers. You can see their beds. Everything came tumbling down, and everybody inside we're told made it out alive incredibly without being seriously hurt. But we know that there are many others who, unfortunately, are still in the hospital right now. 698 people being treated at hospitals. 114 now confirmed dead at least, and 70 are still missing.

[10:40:00] And the families of some of the people who live in this area are very angry. They've been protesting. We saw them outside of a government press conference earlier today demanding that the government buy back their homes. They want compensation because they say they lived too close to this now destroyed warehouse where a long list of toxic chemicals were being housed and they don't feel safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The chemical stuff is all over. I saw -- it was like a fireworks, you know, exploding, flying to everywhere. Some parts might fall to our yard, to our home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Right now more than 2,000 troops are working alongside hundreds of biochemical experts. They're testing the air, they're testing the groundwater and the sea water and the soil for contamination from this disaster, but chemicals are still strewn about everywhere. In fact, we discovered them right here at this site, and we notified the government and they sent in the fire department to clean it up.

But it just goes to show the full scale of this disaster and the environmental impact and the exact toxic chemicals involved are still unknown as the Chinese government promises a full criminal investigation amid growing public criticism and questions about how this could have happened -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Will Ripley reporting from northern China.

Where are the high paying jobs in the United States? For a while now unemployed Americans have been desperately searching for those jobs. It turns out they may have been here and available all along. Christine Romans is CNN's chief business correspondent. Really?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, I mean now we have entered a new phase of the recovery. I think it's what we can say here. This new report from Georgetown, from Anthony Carnivale (ph) who's like the expert on this. It's called "good jobs are back, college graduates are first in line". They analyzed all the new jobs since 2010 and found about half of them were high-paying jobs.

What am I talking about? We're talking jobs that are $53,000 a year or more. Jobs that tend to have health insurance. Jobs that tend to have a retirement plan, so there are good jobs out there they're and when they break it down, 2.9 million of them high-paying jobs.

These are all the jobs out of the recovery -- Carol. You can see that old narrative that so many of the jobs were low-income jobs just not holding true. That was true in the first part of the recovery, but now more recently we've been adding better jobs.

What are we talking about? Science, technology, engineering, math. I'm talking about managerial roles. I'm talking about health care. These are the kinds of jobs that we're seeing really picking up steam right now.

COSTELLO: That's awesome.

ROMANS: It's good, and when you look at those jobs, Carol, who are these jobs going to -- those high paying jobs? About 80 percent of them are going to college graduates. So this report saying these millennials, these new college graduates kind of weighing in there on is college worth the debate? It is worth it. We're finding it is worth it.

The recovery has been too slow and that's what this report also finds from Georgetown, the recovery has been too slow. It's been kind of an abysmal post really depression recovery. But now we're at this stage where the kinds of jobs that we're seeing come back are these high-paying jobs.

COSTELLO: It's interesting to see how it will affect the Presidential election, right?

ROMANS: Yes, absolutely.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, many thanks.

ROMANS: You're welcome. COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, should kids get

trophies just for showing up? One Super Bowl-winning linebacker says no way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:47:41] COSTELLO: Tim Tebow is back. The now Philadelphia Eagles quarterback took to the field in the Eagles' preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Former Florida star threw for 69 yards and ran for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The team won 36-10. Who knows, Tebow may be back for good. We'll keep you posted.

NFL linebacker James Harrison is sick and tired of America's trophy culture. You know, how kids and young athletes get participation trophies -- participation trophies for just showing up. And he's apparently decided to strip his kids of some awards that they just received because he, quote, "wants them to earn" a real trophy. You know, actually do something to like earn the trophy. I think he's going to be father of the year.

CNN's Kelly Wallace joins me now.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people are with you there.

COSTELLO: But then I don't have children and I don't know what it's like so I'll just be totally transparent.

WALLACE: Yes, yes. Well, it has set off a national conversation because parents are saying what is the deal, right? The "everyone has to get a trophy in order to succeed" kind of syndrome. And he said in his statement on Instagram, he said "I'm sorry I'm not sorry for believing everything in life should be earned and I'm not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best". He said because sometimes your best is not enough. And you have to go ahead and do better.

COSTELLO: But he's right.

WALLACE: I mean I applaud him setting off this national conversation. I don't know if I would have done the same thing to my kids. They're eight and six and those boys now have to send those trophies back.

COSTELLO: Well, I was just talking to Christine Romans because she has little boys -- right. And they're very cute little boys. And I said, you know, what do you think about this James Harrison thing. And Christine said "I'm conflicted because I want my kids to participate and maybe they won't if they don't win a trophy." And I asked her, I said, "Christine, has not getting a trophy ever prevented you from participating in anything?"

WALLACE: See, I think the headline here is kids are much smarter than adults. We knew that already. They know what this is, right? They know it's just a trophy for showing up. They're much more excited if they win the championship or they get most improved --

COSTELLO: Are they still?

WALLACE: I know. But I think the larger point here is what we've talked about before on your show, is this sort of doing everything we can to make our kids happy, not letting them fail. Kids need to learn how to fail, they need to learn how to lose. Kids need to learn how to fail. They need to learn how to lose. They need to know that Johnny and Tim and Kelly and all these other people were better than them and that might encourage them to do better next time.

[10:50:10] COSTELLO: I will tell you this. I will tell you this. You know, my husband is a professor -- college professor. He says it's a terrible problem with college-age kids because they expect to be successful at everything, and nobody is. And you're putting all of these high expectations on these kids to constantly succeed and win and it's hurting their psyches.

WALLACE: It's hurting them. We talk about depression and anxiety. It also probably discourages them from taking risks. I know another woman who is a professor at a college as well. She said her students are afraid to take chances in class. They know what to do to get the A, but they're afraid to go off course and maybe get a C. What's the worst thing that could happen?

COSTELLO: Yes, but who cares, right?

WALLACE: I know. It is a bigger issue. I still might let my kids get the medal though. Come on, James Harrison.

COSTELLO: It's probably good I don't have children because I would make them give those trophies back.

Kelly Wallace, thanks so much.

WALLACE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, inside Amazon. A surprising investigation where workers say their colleagues cry at their desks. How the company is responding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:21] COSTELLO: The "New York Times" has published a blistering portrait of what it's like to work at the giant online retailer Amazon. Based on the article our CNN Money team sums up Amazon's corporate culture as five big nos: no middle ground, no mercy, no holding back, no stopping, and no balance. Here to explain what that means is Cristine Alesci. And I read this article. And I wouldn't want to work at Amazon.

CRISTINE ALESCI, CNN MONEY: Yes. Now, here is the thing, and in technology Amazon is known as a pretty intense place to work, but what the "New York Times" did was present some pretty damning details specifically about people crying in the office, not being able to disconnect from their devices, penalized for taking vacation. What's called purposeful Darwinism to weed out the weaklings. And worst of all people getting edged out because they took some time off for medical reasons like miscarriages.

So that's probably the worst of it.

Here is the issue for Bezos -- right. The company has been very public about its ability to drive people to be the best, right? So what does that mean? And they're also very public about their principles. One of which is frugality, right?

It's not surprising for a company that very rarely generates a profit for them to be frugal. The question is does that frugality and that intenseness translate to really mistreating employees? And the proof is in whether or not people continue to work at Amazon, right? What's their retention like? And that's going to be really the proof.

COSTELLO: Do we know what their retention rate is?

We don't know exactly what their retention rate is, and the company probably won't release any kind of details like that --

COSTELLO: Because most of the employees in the article said they only worked there a year or so because they couldn't take it and they had to get out and that brought in new blood.

ALESCI: Exactly. But Bezos responded saying this is not the company that I know. This is certainly not -- these practices are certainly not ones that I encourage. Please come forward either to me or to the human resources department and report any of these practices.

The problem is --

COSTELLO: Oh, come on.

ALESCI: Exactly, exactly. You know how that game goes, right?

COSTELLO: Yes.

ALESCI: But, you know, the "New York Times" did a pretty thorough job here. It says that it interviewed over 100 current and former employees. These are not isolated incidents. This is a pattern that the "New York Times" was trying to establish.

But, again, if you look at Silicon Valley and how competitive it is -- good programmers, good talent is really hard to come by. Every tech executive that I speak to from a startup to the really established companies say talent is our biggest problem. We have talent wars. We have people willing to pay extreme amounts of money because there's a scarcity there, right?

So Amazon can't be a successful company if they continue to treat their employees -- if it's true --

COSTELLO: Right. ALESCI: -- continue to treat their employees poorly, and they've

been a successful company. So the question is how do you get that level of success by bashing your employees who could go work at Google and Facebook who have yoga in the middle of the day? You know, we're talking about those perks compared to frugality at Amazon? I don't know. Something doesn't add up.

COSTELLO: Yes. Well, it's an interesting article. You should read it. Go to the "New York Times" Web site and it's there.

ALESCI: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Thanks very much Cristine -- I appreciate it.

Checking some other top stories for you at 58 minutes past. In Georgia the parents of Kendrick Johnson are now saying officials played a role in covering up their son's death. The claim comes as an amendment to a $100 million lawsuit which was filed back in January. Johnson's parents say the sheriff and the school superintendent allowed a person into the school gym to place their son's body inside of a rolled up gym mat for, quote, manufacturing alleged evidence of an accidental death. An attorney representing the sheriff's office claims this is false, outrageous, scurrilous, and scandalous.

An Iranian court is expected to announce a verdict in the trial of a jailed "Washington Post" reporter by the end of this week. This as a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary says that Jason Rezaian's arrest has nothing to do with his work as a journalist. Iran accuses Rezaian of espionage and hostile acts. The U.S. State Department calls those allegations absurd.

The Pentagon plans to step up its overseas drone program. According to the Wall Street Journal, it wants to increase flights by 50 percent. The defense department says the added flights would broaden surveillance and intelligence collection in areas including Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea, and North Africa.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Breaking news. A bomb explodes --