Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Most people remember where they
Speaker 1: were when President Obama saluted a marine while holding a latte.
Speaker 1: It's considered by many of America's step uncles to be
Speaker 1: the biggest scandal in presidential history. The Daily Show podcast
Speaker 1: Universe is proud to introduce the most definitive, most caffeinated
Speaker 1: history of Obama's latte salute from the people who lived
Speaker 1: through it. This is Slow Obama. Lauren Mills is a
Speaker 1: barista at the Pizza Coffee on Eighth and K in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. In many ways, she's a typical barista. She
Speaker 1: wears a lot of camouflage vests. She knows a weird
Speaker 1: amount about Bolivian politics. She styles her hair and dreadlocks.
Speaker 1: Despite being white, spiritually, I just feel Jamaican, you know.
Speaker 1: On fourteen, Lauren got to work and she did what
Speaker 1: she does every day. She made coffee, a large drip
Speaker 1: with cream, an Americano with four scoops of sugar. And
Speaker 1: then at seven am, Lauren received an order for a latte.
Speaker 1: And though it was impossible to know it at the time,
Speaker 1: Lauren Mills was brewing a beverage that would change the
Speaker 1: course of presidential history. This is The Daily Show presents
Speaker 1: Slow Obama, a podcast about the latte salute, the greatest
Speaker 1: American political scandal of the century. Everyone's talking about the
Speaker 1: disrespectful way the president saluted a marine yesterday with his
Speaker 1: latte in his hand, two marines after Marine one landed
Speaker 1: in New York with a cup of coffee in his hands.
Speaker 1: That's back all off from what many are calling President
Speaker 1: Obama's latta salute. By Obama may serve as a useful
Speaker 1: metaphor for his entire administration. His entire administration is entire administration.
Speaker 1: How did it feel to wake up every morning knowing
Speaker 1: the President saluted a marine with a latte? What was
Speaker 1: it like to live through that horror? Has America ever
Speaker 1: truly recovered? Episode one? A Cup of Shame? September Barack
Speaker 1: Obama is halfway through his second term as president. He
Speaker 1: flies to New York for a meeting at the United Nations,
Speaker 1: and the White House releases a video of Obama getting
Speaker 1: off the helicopter. He smiles at a small crowd, walks
Speaker 1: down the stairs. Marine salute him. Obama salutes back, a
Speaker 1: typical scene, except something isn't right. The White House both
Speaker 1: of this video on Instagram on Tuesday shows President Obama
Speaker 1: stepping off Marine one here in New York's saluting marines
Speaker 1: with a coffee cup in his hands. Some are now
Speaker 1: calling this disrespectful. But how did the video reach the
Speaker 1: Today Show? One reason is Tom Stoneman. Tom is a
Speaker 1: writer for shout Pundit, where he blogs about politics and
Speaker 1: alpha mel testosterone pills. Tom is your typical conservative blogger.
Speaker 1: He's five ft seven, lives in a bomb shelter, and
Speaker 1: has never eaten a vegetable. I always kept an aisle.
Speaker 1: President Barak said, damn, who's saying? Oh, Bungler? The man
Speaker 1: was corrupt and he was also This is based on
Speaker 1: my own reporting. Born a lady, Obama's two terms in
Speaker 1: office had already been defined by scandal. You probably remember
Speaker 1: the big ones. He used grape poupon instead of regular mustard.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that fancy burger. Mr. President. He
Speaker 1: wore a tan suit to a press briefing. President Obama's
Speaker 1: decision to wear a light tan suit it Yesterday's news conference.
Speaker 1: He droned a wedding a US drone strike in Yemen
Speaker 1: that missed its target. He even used a selfie stick
Speaker 1: in the White House. Here's the leader of the free world,
Speaker 1: the guy we trust with a button for the nukes,
Speaker 1: acting like a twelve year old. The scandals kept piling up,
Speaker 1: and there were steady calls for impeachment from Americans with
Speaker 1: a o L email addresses, which is why Internet salutes
Speaker 1: like Stoneman were on high alert for more missteps. He
Speaker 1: saluted that marine with a coffee cup in his hand.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it. He might as well have pooped
Speaker 1: on the American flag and wiped his butt with the Constitution.
Speaker 1: Stoneman and many other conservatives on the Internet were incensed.
Speaker 1: The video was soon posted at all the major right
Speaker 1: wing blogs, Patriot Shriek, Brainpower, American News, Red Anger, Rising,
Speaker 1: Storm Surge, The Angry Church Wife, Angry Man's Angry Blog,
Speaker 1: Angriness Today, the Anger Report with Doctor Mike Angry. The
Speaker 1: right wing radio host Mark Levin included a segment about
Speaker 1: the Latte salute during his afternoon show. It's about damn time,
Speaker 1: almost six years in office, that you show our men
Speaker 1: and women in military respect, which you do not. And
Speaker 1: when you get off that damn helicopter, you salot, and
Speaker 1: you salote with respect. A nice crasp right hand slot.
Speaker 1: Got it. Now here's something you have to understand about
Speaker 1: America in two thousand fourteen. This was a different time,
Speaker 1: a different place, a different country. There were only six
Speaker 1: fast in the Furious Movies. Donald Trump wasn't yet the
Speaker 1: commander in chief. He was still a loudmouth businessman with
Speaker 1: a reality show where he pretended to fire EMC. Hammer.
Speaker 1: So there was no telling whether this story would break
Speaker 1: into the mainstream. And then this is a Fox News
Speaker 1: alert on Chris Walla. Buckley Churnsworth is your typical Fox
Speaker 1: News intern. His father is a GOP mega doner, and
Speaker 1: his mother is not allowed to talk at parties. In September,
Speaker 1: he was a seventh year sophomore at Dartmouth. He was
Speaker 1: taking off the false semester due to a drunken disorderly
Speaker 1: charge out of Panera bread and found an internship at
Speaker 1: Fox News. He remembers stumbling on Tom Stoneman's blog post
Speaker 1: we caught up with Buckley at his favorite New York
Speaker 1: City bar, Mick Chuggers. Yeah. So I was reading an
Speaker 1: article on epic bro moves dot com and an ad
Speaker 1: caught my eye. It was a link to a shout
Speaker 1: punded story. I'll never forget the headline, unbelievable, Brocko Boner
Speaker 1: does it again? Given Muslim salute while carrying a cup
Speaker 1: of Indonesian coffee. I immediately told my boss alright, I
Speaker 1: told someone on It's pretty coked up that day, And
Speaker 1: suddenly the scandal was on. Marine manual states do not
Speaker 1: salute quote when carrying articles with both hands, or being
Speaker 1: otherwise so occupied as to make saluting impractical. Floppy, ill
Speaker 1: thought out, inappropriate, callous, selfish, and disrespectful. His heart wasn't it?
Speaker 1: After all? We gotta chi swilling, golf plan, basketball, trash talking,
Speaker 1: leading from behind, I got no strategy. Osama bin died
Speaker 1: lotting his dead GM is alive, a community organizing commander
Speaker 1: in chief. How disrespectful was that? There are a lot
Speaker 1: of drinks you can order at a coffee shop Latte, espresso, Americano, makiato.
Speaker 1: But what Barack Obama received that was a large steaming problamo.
Speaker 1: After the break, President Obama faces the biggest White House
Speaker 1: scandal since William Howard Taft got stuck in a bathtub.
Speaker 1: Hey everyone, if you're enjoying slow Obama, consider subscribing to
Speaker 1: Slow Bama plus for just nine d nine a month,
Speaker 1: you'll get exclusive access to extra features, like a bonus
Speaker 1: for our interview with the dry cleaner who press Barack
Speaker 1: Obama's tan suit. We've also got free podcasts where we've
Speaker 1: removed all of the hoos, oz and us from all
Speaker 1: our episodes, and for Slow Obama Plus subscribers, the answer
Speaker 1: to this week's trivia question was once again, Leon Panetta,
Speaker 1: And now back to the podcast. Do you remember where
Speaker 1: you were when you first heard about the latte salute?
Speaker 1: For many Americans, it's like the moon landing, except the
Speaker 1: latte salute actually happened, and people were angry. America had
Speaker 1: already been burned by the series finale of Lost, and
Speaker 1: now the Hope and Change president was saluting marines with coffee.
Speaker 1: We know that anger on the right was high, but
Speaker 1: what about the left. I was on that helicopter with
Speaker 1: the president. My failure to stop him from saluting that
Speaker 1: marine with a latte is my single greatest regret, not
Speaker 1: just of the Obama presidency, but in my entire life.
Speaker 1: Jon Favreau is in many ways your typical former aid
Speaker 1: to Barack Obama. He hosts a hit podcast, He sends
Speaker 1: a hundred thirty tweets per day, and he is unable
Speaker 1: to make eye contact for more than three seconds without
Speaker 1: looking at his phone. And even now, five years later,
Speaker 1: he can't stop thinking about the latte salute. Sometimes late
Speaker 1: at night, I hear a voice whispering in the wind.
Speaker 1: Latte Salude, lad Salude, La salude. It's my rosebut it's
Speaker 1: my white whale. It's whatever. Tim Burton season, Johnny Depp
Speaker 1: an obsession. Looking back, it's hard to believe that Barack
Speaker 1: Obama would salute a marine with a latte. But remember
Speaker 1: this was two thousand fourteen. Alright, time now for the
Speaker 1: ice Bucket Challenge, and a lot of things we enjoyed
Speaker 1: in two thousand fourteen seemed ridiculous today, like The Walking
Speaker 1: Dead or McLemore. But another thing that's hard to believe
Speaker 1: is something John brought up that no one on the
Speaker 1: helicopter stopped the president, and it made us wonder was
Speaker 1: it really possible for John or anyone else on the
Speaker 1: plane to stop the latte salute. To find out, we
Speaker 1: rented a helicopter with the exact dimensions and configuration of
Speaker 1: Marine one and ran a little experiment. Okay, so I'm
Speaker 1: here with my producer and the helicopter and what are
Speaker 1: we doing. We're gonna find out if one could have
Speaker 1: stopped the latte stilly. Okay, So I'm seated where President
Speaker 1: Obama would have sat. I am holding a latte that
Speaker 1: we got from Cab Coffee, right. Okay, the helicopter door
Speaker 1: has opened. I am walking down the stairs lifting my hand.
Speaker 1: Is it bad yet? Done? The line with the latte? Okay?
Speaker 1: So what do we think? I don't think it was
Speaker 1: possible to stop it. Back in the studio, we called
Speaker 1: Jon Favre. Hello, John, It's Matt from slo Obama. We
Speaker 1: just got back from the airfield, and we determined pretty
Speaker 1: conclusively that no one would have been able to stop
Speaker 1: the latte salute. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You know, President Trump by be finnskin semiliterate adulteress and
Speaker 1: a serial tax sheet. But at least he's never had
Speaker 1: a scandal as bad as holding a couple saluting a marine.
Speaker 1: And to know that I couldn't have prevented that salute,
Speaker 1: I mean, thank you. You're you're a real friend of
Speaker 1: the pod. Thanks John, sure thing, and hey, you didn't
Speaker 1: really rent a helicopter and recreate this thing? Did you m?
Speaker 1: What do you mean? I mean? This is just a joke, right,
Speaker 1: I wasn't actually in the plane with Obama. I left
Speaker 1: the White Has a year before this whole thing happened.
Speaker 1: Clearly the tru from the latte salute had left John
Speaker 1: Favre confused. After all, this was a confusing time in
Speaker 1: American history. Remember, for both the left and the right,
Speaker 1: it was hard to put this in context. There's plenty
Speaker 1: more ahead after this short break. I'm still on the line.
Speaker 1: Slow Obama is sponsored by WES. Wes is the first
Speaker 1: ever community underwear sharing program ever. Wonder what it's like
Speaker 1: to walk a mile and someone else's skivs? We Undy
Speaker 1: sends you another member's underwear, along with a photo and
Speaker 1: brief biography of the owner. Simply where their underwear and
Speaker 1: then send them back when you feel like you've gotten
Speaker 1: your fill. If you're like me, you probably still have
Speaker 1: a ton of questions about the latte salute? For example,
Speaker 1: what drove President Obama to salute with a latte? Did
Speaker 1: President Obama ever salute a marine while holding another food
Speaker 1: or beverage like a bottle of snapple or a turkey? Leg?
Speaker 1: Has President Obama ever been to the Renaissance fair, but
Speaker 1: mostly I think about that marine. Imagine you enlist for
Speaker 1: the U. S. Marine Corps. You train, you do your
Speaker 1: push ups, shave your head, you run laps while shouting
Speaker 1: about how butch you are, and then, during the defining
Speaker 1: moment of your military career, greeting the presidential helicopter, you
Speaker 1: get saluted with a latte. We tracked down the marine
Speaker 1: that President Obama saluted. His name is Lieutenant Chris Wheel
Speaker 1: and he retired from the Corps in two thousand seventeen.
Speaker 1: He agreed to sit down with me and in an
Speaker 1: emotional conversation, we talked about how it felt to be
Speaker 1: on the receiving end of the latte salute. Lieutenant Wheel,
Speaker 1: I know this must be very difficult for you, not really.
Speaker 1: If you ever need to stop, if the pain becomes
Speaker 1: too great, please just tell me. I really doubt it.
Speaker 1: So how did it feel to get saluted with a latte?
Speaker 1: I told you on the phone it was fine, wasn't
Speaker 1: that big a deal. But in another sense, it wasn't fine,
Speaker 1: and it was an enormous deal, and it didn't seem
Speaker 1: like America knew how to cope with such an offense.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like George W. Bush had ever made a
Speaker 1: mistake with the U. S. Military, But in fact, the
Speaker 1: United States had faced a remarkably similar situation a century before.
Speaker 1: Here's presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. Well, you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of people forget this, but actually President Chester A. Arthur
Speaker 1: got into some salute based trouble of his own. I'm
Speaker 1: back in three Arthur was on a whistle stop tour.
Speaker 1: At one of those stops, President Arthur saluted some major
Speaker 1: general while he was holding a bottle of root beer, which,
Speaker 1: a course, back in those days, was made of pure
Speaker 1: uncut Mexican cocaine. And the scandal became known in the
Speaker 1: newspapers his Chester's Cheese Up. You couldn't open a newspaper
Speaker 1: without reading about Chester's Cheese Up. Well, the backlast of
Speaker 1: this scandal was so ferocious that Chester Arthur was forced
Speaker 1: to find a fall guy, so he fired his secretary
Speaker 1: of locomotive affairs and then ended up selling him to
Speaker 1: the Prussian Empire. Wow, and you're a real historian. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am incredible, a real historian with a real story. Well, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: this is a real I thought we were doing a joke. Obviously,
Speaker 1: that's never happened. As reporters were obliged to consider every
Speaker 1: side of a story. If there's a football game, you
Speaker 1: talked to the home team and the visitors. If there's
Speaker 1: a vote on a bill, you talk to Democrats and Republicans.
Speaker 1: If a woman is accused of being possessed by the devil,
Speaker 1: he talked to her accuser and to Satan by summoning
Speaker 1: the prince of darkness and a blood sacrifice. That's journalism.
Speaker 1: And so we knew that before this was over, we
Speaker 1: had to talk to the latte salute or in chief himself,
Speaker 1: Barack Obama, because and this is weird, Obama has never
Speaker 1: actually talked about the latte salute. Here's the president's press
Speaker 1: secretary in two thousand fourteen, right as the latte salute
Speaker 1: scandal was escalating, the president's latte salute or coffee salute
Speaker 1: when he was getting off of Marine one, saluting the
Speaker 1: marine with the cup of coffee. Have you even asked
Speaker 1: to respond to this or I haven't present aware of
Speaker 1: I don't know. If I haven't, I haven't talked to
Speaker 1: him about it. After five years, had no one really
Speaker 1: talked to President Obama about it. So I did what
Speaker 1: any podcast journalist would do. I requested an interview with
Speaker 1: Barack Obama, and his spokesman granted the request on the
Speaker 1: condition that I not ask about the latte salute. I
Speaker 1: was told Obama would talk about literally any subject, his marriage,
Speaker 1: what it was like to be born in Kenya, any
Speaker 1: subject at all, except the latte salute. I declined the
Speaker 1: interview frankly, I told a spokesman, that's some weak tea,
Speaker 1: or should I say a week lot tea. I have
Speaker 1: been reporting this story for five years straight. In that time,
Speaker 1: I have lived and breathed the latte salute. I see
Speaker 1: it when I closed my eyes, I think about it
Speaker 1: when I drift off to sleep. I tend to talk
Speaker 1: about it all the time, and that tendency has frayed
Speaker 1: my relationship with the people closest to me, with my friends,
Speaker 1: with my wife, with my wife's divorce lawyer, with my
Speaker 1: wife's new boyfriend, Dave. But in the end, America needs
Speaker 1: this story because the latte salute is the story of America.
Speaker 1: Think about it. A scandal that nearly brought down a
Speaker 1: president started with a humble cup of coffee and so
Speaker 1: I knew that I had to go back and talk
Speaker 1: to Lauren Mills, the barista who made that faithful latte.
Speaker 1: I've got a small latte for Matt. Oh God, hello Lauren.
Speaker 1: Not again, Lauren. I just have one question. How does
Speaker 1: it feel to have made the coffee that kicked off
Speaker 1: our nation's greatest presidential scandal? Greatest scandal? What about Chester's
Speaker 1: cheese up? And didn't Andrew Jackson like commit genocide? The
Speaker 1: latte salute, Lauren, latte salute, latte salute. I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to ask you to leave. Are you drooling right now?
Speaker 1: The word scandal is derived from the Greek word scandal on,
Speaker 1: which means stumbling block. But what is a stumbling block?
Speaker 1: And then there's this wrinkle, m how do we even
Speaker 1: know that the liquid in his cup was a latte?
Speaker 1: What if President Obama was drinking something else entirely? Did
Speaker 1: we get the latte salute entirely wrong? That's next week
Speaker 1: on episode two of The Daily Show Presents Slow Obama.
Speaker 1: Archival footage in today's episode was provided by Shout Hunted
Speaker 1: and The Angry Report Dr Mike Angry. The show's music
Speaker 1: is composed by Dave my wife's boyfriend. Thanks Dave M.
Speaker 1: This has been a Comedy Central podcast.