A video was posted on the internet last Thursday of a man who spit in the face of Grand Junction-based progressive influencer Dean Withers at the Grand Junction Regional Airport as Withers was returning home from a trip. Withers is a well known progressive political commentator who has over 3.1 million followers on Instagram.
Withers’ mother was picking Withers up at the airport when the man spat on him in the pickup/drop off area in front of the terminal. Withers immediately took out his phone and started recording the incident. Withers asked the man on video if he just spit on him, and the man admitted to the assault while his wife argued “I don’t think spitting is a crime.” Withers got a clear record of the spitter’s face, his wife and his license plate on the video.
Spitting on someone is considered an intentional act of offensive conduct in Colorado and is illegal. It is chargeable as a misdemeanor battery when done with intent to harass, provoke or alarm another person.
Shortly after the video was posted, the man who assaulted Withers was identified as G.J. resident Shane McDougal.
McDougal was subsequently arrested (pdf) and charged with harassment:
The slob of weak character that spit must be intimidated by DWs success in debates, command of language, his following etc, and is incapable of civil interaction so he, in an act of alpha male immaturity- spits.
Good luck facing that Colorado statute.
Any idea how to find out when he is due in court? I wouldn’t mind showing up with some friends and signs.
Sure, Ilene. Here’s how to find when the next court hearings are in the case: First, Google “Mesa County Court Docket.” Then click on “Docket Search.” At Docket Search, select the 21st Judicial District from the drop down list. Select “Mesa County Justice Center,” then choose “Mesa County” for County, and leave “Court Type” as “Both.” Select the 6 month date range. Scroll down and select the option to search for an individual. Fill in the first name (“Shane”) and the last name “McDougal.” Then click “Find Dockets.” The next hearing in this case is an in-person arraignment on 5/13/2026 at 8:15 a.m. in Courtroom 100 at the Mesa County Justice Center. It’s Case No. 2026M885.
Lee, I understand the concern about civility, but the idea that the Founding Fathers modeled calm, respectful disagreement just isn’t supported by the historical record.
The reality is that early American political culture was often intensely personal, hostile, and at times physically confrontational.
For example, the most famous case is the Burr–Hamilton duel (1804). After years of public insults, Hamilton repeatedly questioned Burr’s character in writing. Burr challenged him, and the dispute ended with Hamilton’s death. This is documented in their correspondence and contemporary accounts.
But that was not an outlier. The founding era had an entire culture of what historians call “honor politics,” where insults could escalate quickly. A Harvard Law Review study on founding-era speech notes that words like “liar” or “scoundrel” were considered “fighting words” likely to provoke a breach of the peace, meaning violence was an expected outcome, not a shocking exception.
It also was not limited to private disputes. Thomas Paine publicly attacked George Washington in print, asking whether he was “an apostate or an impostor.” That level of rhetoric routinely pushed men toward duels or physical confrontation.
Historians summarizing the period, drawing on letters, diaries, and eyewitness accounts, note that political figures were often “smearing, screaming, spitting, and occasionally shooting at each other” (Virginia Museum of History & Culture, “Feuding Founders”).
There were also multiple lethal duels beyond Hamilton. Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was killed in one in 1777. This was not fringe behavior. It was embedded in elite political culture.
None of that excuses bad behavior today. But it does challenge the idea that the founders built the country through consistently polite disagreement. In reality, they built it in spite of deep personal hostility, sharp insults, and sometimes outright violence.
If anything, the lesson is not that conflict did not exist. It is that the system they created was strong enough to survive it.
Ahhhhh, the history of fragile white men resorting to violence.
Time to smash the patriarchy and women take the lead.
ICE officers shoot fellow Americans they disagree with.
What have Americans become that we spit on someone we disagree with? If the founding fathers had spit on each other, I guess we wouldnt have had a country.