Spirit Airlines did not receive that proposed $500 million bailout and ceased operations over the weekend, putting thousands of people out of work and leaving thousands of travelers scrambling for new arrangements.

“All Spirit flights have been cancelled, and Spirit Guests should not go to the airport,” the airline said in a statement. Refunds will be processed in short order.

Who killed Spirit?

Democrat Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren wants you to think it was Donald Trump and his administration — specifically, “Spiking fuel prices from Trump’s war was the nail in the coffin for twice-bankrupted Spirit airline.” That and greedy capitalists. “The Big Four airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, United) control 75% of the U.S. market,” she complained last Thursday. “Fewer choices = higher prices for you.”

Fuel prices are indeed higher and, as it turns out, insurmountable for Spirit’s cut-rate fare business model. However, thanks to X’s community notes feature, readers were introduced to the real culprits: Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden’s administration.

“In 2024, Senator Warren supported the Biden Administration’s DOJ suing to prevent the merger between JetBlue and Spirit, fearing ‘fewer flights and higher fares,’” says the note. “Now Spirit shutdown [sic], resulting in fewer flights and less competition.”

Bingo.

In a March 2024 X post, Warren bragged that she had “warned for months that a @JetBlue-@SpiritAirlines merger would have led to fewer flights and higher fares.” She praised Joe Biden’s Justice Department and Department of Transportation, saying they “were right to stand up for consumers and fight against runaway airline consolidation.” After a judge ruled in Team Biden’s favor, Warren concluded, “This is a Biden win for flyers!”

From the vantage point of May 2026, that’s laughably false.

That’s why she’s now blaming “a judge, appointed by Ronald Reagan,” without mentioning Biden’s DOJ bringing the lawsuit or her celebrating it. Her gaslighting is incredible.

Not all mergers are anti-competitive, but the trust-busting zealots of the Left don’t seem to agree. The Biden administration twice blocked JetBlue’s proposed mergers, the second of which would’ve at least given Spirit a chance at survival. After losing out on the merger, Spirit first filed for bankruptcy in November 2024, long before the current spike in fuel prices.

JetBlue might be the next airline to fold, all because Team Biden rejected its $3.8 billion merger with Spirit. “Had Spirit Airlines been allowed to merge with Jet Blue, it would have given them much more resiliency,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Thanks to @SenWarren, @PeteButtigieg, and all of their friends in the Biden Administration who backed their enthusiastic opposition to the Spirit-Jet Blue merger, dozens of regional airports will now lose service and thousands of jobs will now be lost.”

As for Warren’s complaint about competition, several other airlines immediately offered Spirit flyers ways to rebook tickets, often with capped fares. American Airlines and United Airlines are launching webpages geared toward Spirit employees suddenly looking for jobs. The bigger airlines will likely buy up all of Spirit’s usable assets. In other words, they will all get bigger — because of Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and crew.

In any case, Trump tried to save Spirit with the aforementioned bailout offer, which would have given the government (read: taxpayers) a 90% stake in the company. President Trump “was like a dog on a bone trying to figure out a way to keep Spirit afloat,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, but “in the end, a deal couldn’t be reached.”

Was Trump right? Duffy didn’t seem to think so. He opposed the bailout on the grounds that he was protecting taxpayers from a bad investment. He was right. “There’s been a lot of money thrown at Spirit, and they haven’t found their way into profitability,” Duffy said on April 21. “If no one else wants to buy them, why would we buy them?”

Over the weekend, he added that no other airlines would be getting money, either. “At this point, I don’t think it’s necessary,” he said. “They do have access to cash. If they want to come to the U.S. government, we would be a lender of last resort. If they can find dollars in the private markets — I think that’s better for them.”

Duffy is exactly right, and it’s a welcome shift for Trump’s administration, which has been all too eager to “invest” in a number of companies and fields. In the meantime, the real losers are Spirit’s customers and employees, and they can send their thank-you cards to Warren, Biden, & Co.

Follow Nate Jackson on X.