Conservatives reacted with fury to the news that Spirit Airlines is going under, noting in online commentary regarding the news that the once-massive and now-worthless company was destroyed primarily because Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) blocked Spirit from being acquired by JetBlue, claiming that allowing the acquisition would be anti-competitive.
Particularly, both Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Trump Administration Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who replaced the ineffective Biden Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, tore into Warren for her role in creating the airline disaster that has given Americans fewer flying options.
Applauding the blocking of the merger in 2024, for instance, after having successfully lobbied to stop it, Warren declared, “I’ve warned for months that a @JetBlue-@SpiritAirlines merger would have led to fewer flights and higher fares. @JusticeATR and @USDOT were right to stand up for consumers and fight against runaway airline consolidation. This is a Biden win for flyers!”
Sounding off on Warren in a quote tweet of that post of hers that he made after the bankruptcy and shutdown of Spirit Airlines was announced, Sen. Moreno said that all those who are suffering because the company collapsed can thank Elizabeth Warren, as it was she who ensured the company-saving merger didn’t happen.
Making that point, the senator wrote, “The 14,000 employees at Spirit who’ve lost their job loss, the travelers who will now pay higher fares, and the shareholders and debt holders who have been wiped out can thank Elizabeth Warren. Electing left politicians, who have ZERO business experience, has consequences.”
Secretary Duffy chimed in as well. Speaking in a press event about Spirit Airlines’ fate, he said, “I think it’s important to talk about why are we here today. There was a proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit, and Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, along with the Biden DOJ, decided that they did not want that merger to take place.”
Continuing, he noted that the budding disaster was warned of at the time, “Now, many at the time said this was a disaster. This merger should have been allowed, and this today would indicate this is not better for travelers, this is not better for pricing, this is not better for competition, actually, it’s worse.”
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But, he added, Warren and others like her didn’t listen, and instead blocked the much-needed merger that could have kept the airline afloat for a bit longer. “Also, Elizabeth Warren, at the time, cheered the blocking of the merger, is saying … this is a Biden win for flyers,” he said.
Still not done, Duffy then explained, “I think it’s important that we always look with a keen eye when airlines want to merge. If the markets are saying there needs to be a merger because there’s health issues with one of the airlines, or more than one airline, we have to take a look at it and make sure we make the right choices.”
He added, concluding by noting how horribly this bit of government interference in business turned out, “And in this situation, history has judged the denial of the merger between JetBlue and Spirit through the Biden administration with I think a view that it was a massive mistake.”
Watch him hammer Warren here: