If you visit Capitol Hill, you might notice groups of teenagers in and around the Senate chamber. They’re part of the institution’s page program, and they’re effectively interns: As the program’s website explains, they deliver correspondence to members’ offices, they help prepare the chamber for sessions, and they carry bills and amendments on the floor. It’s the sort of thing that looks great on college applications.
During downtime, it’s not uncommon to see pages taking a break in the Capitol Rotunda. What’s far less routine, however, is for this to turn into a controversy. USA Today reported:
Freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden yelled and cursed at a group of high school-aged Senate pages while giving a late-night tour of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. … Van Orden, who represents Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, called the pages “lazy s—-“ and told them to “get the f— up” off the floor as the pages were lying on their backs in the Capitol Rotunda taking pictures of the building’s dome during their final week at work, according to PunchBowl News.
One of the kids had the presence of mind to write down what the GOP congressman said, and The Hill obtained the partial transcript. According to the report, Van Orden called the pages “jackasses” and “pieces of s‑‑‑,” and told them he didn’t “give a f‑‑‑ who you are.”
He reportedly added, “You are defiling the space.”
Those who follow Wisconsin politics closely might find these circumstances familiar. The New Republic noted, “In 2021, the then-candidate threatened a 17-year-old staff member at a local library, demanding to know who set up the Pride Month display of books. Van Orden went on to check out every book from the display so that they would not be available to other patrons.”
The teenage girl went home and told her parents that she no longer felt safe working at the library.
Two years later, it appears the Republican thought it’d be a good idea to bully minors again.
For his part, Van Orden hasn’t made much of an effort to contest the allegations. When The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked the freshman congressman about the incident, he said the Capitol Rotunda was used as a field hospital during the Civil War, adding that he considers it “terribly disrespectful to lay on the grave of a soldier that died fighting for freedom.”
To the extent that reality matters, no one is buried under the Capitol Rotunda, and there are no graves to lay on.
Nevertheless, it’s terribly unfortunate that a congressman thought it’d be appropriate to upbraid kids with a profane rant. The fact that the Wisconsin Republican hasn’t apologized makes the story worse. But let’s not forget what else has made him famous. As regular readers might recall, Van Orden also went to Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. According to his version of events, he left when the pro-Trump mob became violent, and he insisted that he did not enter the grounds of the Capitol itself, though a Daily Beast report later called Van Orden’s claims into question. (The congressman rejected the accuracy of the article.) USA Today report went on to quote Courtney Rice, the communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who said, “Wow, I’m *shocked* that the man who was part of an insurrection, sexually harassed women in the military, and screamed at a teen librarian aide because of an LGBTQ+ display would do something like this.” Rice was apparently referring to Van Orden’s 2015 book “in which he mentioned an instance when he revealed a male lieutenant’s enlarged scrotum to unsuspecting female officers in an apparent prank.” Van Orden represents a highly competitive congressional district in southwestern Wisconsin. I have a hunch his re-election campaign will be worth watching.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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