A sitting member of Congress appears to have offered to help shoot a man.
On the night of October 5, 2026, Derrick Van Orden — the Republican congressman for western Wisconsin — replied to a post from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the planned execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Hegseth's post said one word: "Justice." Van Orden's reply also said one word, misspelled: "vollenteer."
That's according to reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, republished by Wausau Pilot & Review. A few hours earlier, at 7:49 p.m., Van Orden had posted this:
"These radial [sic] Islamist need to get the message: You kill Americans, someone else will be raising your children."
He also posted that he would free up his schedule.
What Van Orden was volunteering for
Hasan was sentenced to death for the Fort Hood massacre, and the Supreme Court turned down his final appeal in 2025. Hegseth has said he will be executed by firing squad.
Then Hegseth went further. States Newsroom reported that on Thursday, October 8, he announced the execution would be public — livestreamed. President Donald Trump told reporters he had "absolutely" approved that.
What Hasan did was monstrous. Nobody is asking anyone to feel sorry for him. The question is what kind of person a congressman shows himself to be when he treats an execution as something to sign up for on social media — and what kind of threat "someone else will be raising your children" is supposed to be.
Even Republicans called the livestream plan disgusting
Three days after Van Orden's posts, Hegseth announced the execution would be livestreamed — and members of his own party backed away from it.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the plan to make the execution public "beyond disgusting," and said public executions are "what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do," according to the same States Newsroom report. Vice President JD Vance said that if it is livestreamed, "I'm not gonna be watching it."
Republican Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri came out against the livestream plan too.
Van Orden had already volunteered.
His opponent, and his silence
The Defense Department didn't respond to questions about whether Van Orden had officially volunteered or would attend. Van Orden's spokesperson didn't respond when the Journal Sentinel asked.
His Democratic opponent, Rebecca Cooke, called the comments "frankly disturbing" and said his priorities were "all wrong." A Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesperson called the post "alarming, even for him."
"Even for him" is doing real work there. This is a congressman who threatened to "punch someone in the face" for criticizing Hegseth, and who told the Journal Sentinel that Islam "is a violent religion" and wouldn't say whether that included the Muslims he represents. The "radial Islamist" post fits the same pattern: one man's crime, turned into a message for a whole group.
In summary
On October 5, 2026, Rep. Derrick Van Orden posted that "radial Islamist" killers should know "someone else will be raising your children," then replied "vollenteer" to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's post about executing the Fort Hood shooter by firing squad. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called the plan to make that execution public "beyond disgusting." Van Orden's office didn't respond to questions, and the Pentagon didn't answer whether he'd officially volunteered.
Source
- Van Orden appears to volunteer for Fort Hood firing squad execution — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, via Wausau Pilot & Review
