On Wednesday night, some of the high school-aged Senate pages were spending their last night in the rotunda of the Capital Building, taking pictures of the beautiful ceiling.
At the same time, Representative Derrick Van Orden (Q - Wisconsin) decided to go on a late night bender, then taking his party guests on a late night tour of the Capital. When the tourists encountered the kids, Van Orden went on a drunken tirade and began verbally abusing the pages, per a report from Punchbowl News.
We obtained a transcript of Rep. Van Orden cursing out Senate pages overnight in the Capitol Rotunda. The account was taken by a page who wrote down the remarks minutes after the incident:https://t.co/0Xu1m93QhY pic.twitter.com/uaxdWWux6u
— Al Weaver (@alweaver22) July 27, 2023
Another reporter shared a picture of Van Orden's office, showing beer cans and booze bottles and said that there were reports that they weren't exactly conducting themselves with decorum:
Per a source, here's a photo from last night of a bunch of alcohol in Van Orden's office. Van Orden and staff were heard partying loudly before he cursed out a group of teenage Senate pages pic.twitter.com/W6KF35nfWt
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) July 27, 2023
It should be noted that Van Orden has some history with being verbally abusive towards children. In 2021, he verbally abused, threatened and terrorized a teenage girl who worked at the Prairie du Chien Memorial Library. He was snapping on the poor girl because he was having a meltdown over a display of LGBTQ books.
On Thursday, Van Orden must have been nursing a pretty bad hangover. Instead of being a decent human being, he continued with his ratfockery by issuing this statement:
“The Capitol Rotunda served as a field hospital where countless Union soldiers died fighting to free men in the Civil War. I have long said our nation’s Capitol is a symbol of the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for this country and should never be treated like a frat house common room. Threatening a congressman with bad press to excuse poor behavior is a reminder of everything that’s wrong with Washington. Luckily, bad press has never bothered me and if it’s the price I pay to stand up for what’s right, then so be it.”
He also did an interview with Lawrence Andrea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"I would think that it’d be terribly disrespectful to lay on the grave of a soldier that died fighting for freedom," Van Orden told the Journal Sentinel. "And I don't know anybody that disagrees."
WTAF did he just say?!
The only one treating the Capital has a "frathouse" was him, getting plowed while on the job.
And do you really think that he was concerned about the sanctity of the grounds when he went a-rioting with a few thousand friends and they beat police with flag poles, fire extinguishers and anything else they could get their hands on? Do you think he was upset when his fellow insurrectionists were smearing feces all over the place?
And for the record, while it is true that soldiers were brought to the Capital for care, no one is buried under the building.
It's also probably true that Van Orden is used to bad press. Besides participating in the insurrection on January 6th (Hello? FBI? Merrick Garland? Yoo hoo!) and terrorizing teen girls, he has a history of sexually harassing women while in the navy and of trying to take a gun on a plane.
But Van Orden did manage to do one remarkable thing. He managed to get every Democrat and every Republican in the US Senate to stand as one to thank, praise and support the pages and to condemn the boorish, asinine behavior of Van Orden. Van Orden likes to point out that he was a Navy SEAL every chance he gets. Now, he is just a disgrace to the uniform he once worn.
The people in his district made a grave mistake by electing him, but everyone can make a mistake. But to re-elect this asshat would be unforgiveable.
Schumer: The pages have served this institution with grace. However, I understand a member of the house majority thought it appropriate to curse at some of these young people… I would like to take a moment to thank these pages. pic.twitter.com/Rxz9PLh6Aq
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 28, 2023
