GOP Lawmaker Calls Teenage Senate Pages 'Little Sh*ts'

Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who once had an outburst at a library over a display of LGBTQ+ books, has found himself embroiled in another scandal involving his demeanor after he berated a group of children at the U.S. Capitol during a profanity-filled rant.

Van Orden yelled and cursed at high school-aged Senate pages during a late-night tour of the building on Thursday morning — a move that sparked criticism from Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

A transcript written by a page of the incident obtained by The Hill indicates Van Orden called the pages “jackasses” and “pieces of sh*t” and scoffed that he didn’t “give a f**k who you are.”

As the Senate worked late Wednesday night, Senate pages, 16- and 17-year-olds who assist the Senate with its operations, rested in the Rotunda nearby as the Senate worked late. This is common on such nights.

They were lying on their backs in the Capitol Rotunda during their final week at work, taking pictures of the dome. The Senate page program is competitive as only 30 are selected to serve all 100 senators.

“Wake the f**k up, you little sh*ts. … What the f**k are you all doing? Get the f**k out of here. You are defiling the space, you [pieces of s**t],” Van Orden screamed.

“Who the f**k are you?” Van Orden asked before saying, “I don’t give a f**k who you are, get out,” upon learning that they were Senate pages.

“You jackasses, get out,” he screeched.

It was so extreme that Senators were outraged when they learned of what happend.

A few hours later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stood by the pages in the Senate.

“I understand that late last night, a member of the House majority thought it appropriate to curse at some of these young people — these teenagers — in the Rotunda. I was shocked when I heard about it, and I am further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

“I can’t speak for the House of Representatives, but I do not think that one member’s disrespect is shared by this body, by [Sen. Mitch McConnell] and myself.”

McConnell said, “Everybody on this side of the aisle” shared the same opinion.

Van Orden reacted by doubling down.

“The history of the United States Capitol Rotunda that during the Civil War, it was used as a field hospital, and countless Union soldiers died on that floor, and they died because they were fighting the Civil War to end slavery. And I think that place should be treated with a tremendous amount of respect for the dead,” he remarked to The Hill.

“If anyone had been laying a series of graves in Arlington National Cemetery, what do you think people would say?”

On Thursday, Democrats quickly attacked Van Orden for Wednesday night’s actions, pointing to his presence outside the Capitol during the January 6, 2021, insurrection as evidence that he disrespected the Capitol and its history. Van Orden insists he didn’t enter the Capitol that day, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelreports.

This is not the first time Van Orden has flashed his temper.

In 2021, Van Orden attacked a 17-year-old library page for an LGBTQ+ books display in southwestern Wisconsin. During his visit to the library, Van Orden complained loudly about a display of fiction and nonfiction books about homosexuality in the children’s section, the Associated Press reported. It was part of the library’s Pride Month celebration.

Van Orden repeatedly asked for the name of the person who set up the display so he could “teach them a lesson,” the page said. She also said she was too terrified to reveal that she had set up the display.

“He was full-on shouting at this point, and he kept aggressively shoving the books around,” she said.