‘Are You Drinking Right Now?’ Wisconsin Congressmen Throw Down In Wild On-Camera Spat

Wisconsin Congressmen, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), let their online war of words spill into the real world this week after the latter interrupted an interview Pocan was having with Spectrum News on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

“There’s your asshole buddy,” Pocan joked on camera to Rep. Tony Wied (R-WI) as Van Orden drove by and parked his Harley Davidson nearby. Pocan and Wied were in the middle of an interview with Spectrum’s Charlotte Scott, who kept the camera rolling as Pocan engaged Van Orden as he walked by.

“Hey, Derrick. Classy as always, man. We love it. Thank you,” Pocan jabbed.

“Have you lost your mind?” Van Orden hit back, “You know, people read the stuff you—”

“I saw your drunken tweet at 1:30 in the morning last night,” Pocan replied, referring to his back-and-forth online with Van Orden.

“No, I got done with the NDAA, you jerk,” Van Orden shot back as Pocan added, “Oh, I got it.”

“You’ve got a problem. I don’t know what it is, but I encourage you to seek mental health counseling. It’s absolutely disgusting,” Van Orden responded.

“Derrick, why don’t you debate me?” Pocan asked. “Why are you so afraid to debate anyone? Here, we can do this with the media. Why don’t you want to debate the Big Beautiful Bill?”

The exchange went downhill from there as Van Orden accused Pocan of corruption:

Van Orden: So, Mark Pocan has never had a job in his entire life other than politics, and he doesn’t understand–

Pocan: I’ve owned a small business for 37 years. Tony, you’ve owned a small business, that’s a little work, isn’t it?

Van Orden: Yes, and he funnels over $500,000 a year of his campaign money to buy signs from his company.

Pocan: OK, look that up. Oh my God, are you drinking right now, Derrick? That’s the real question. Alright.

The night before, Pocan and Van Orden slammed each other on X. Van Orden accused the Democrats of cutting Medicaid in his state, to which Pocan replied, “Only an idiot both votes to cut Medicaid and can’t spell it, @derrickvanorden. Please stop embarrassing Wisconsin.”

Watch the clip above via Spectrum.