You Won’t Believe Who Trump Blames for Spirit Airlines Falling Apart

Donald Trump also apparently forgot what year it is.

President Donald Trump claimed that former President Barack Obama blocked a merger with a defunct airline that hasn’t existed since the 1980s.

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office Thursday, Trump appeared confused when he was asked whether the government planned to buy a stake in Spirit Airlines, the struggling discount carrier that has twice filed for bankruptcy.

“So, Spirit is, uh, an airline that’s had some trouble. They were going to merge with People Express, or one of them, a number of years ago and Barack Hussein Obama decided it was a bad idea,” Trump said. “How did that work out? It was bad for both of them. That would’ve been a natural merger.”

It would’ve been a distinctly unnatural merger, as People Express shuttered in 1987. Spirit Airlines as we know it didn’t formally exist until five years later.

Reporter: Is the government going to buy a stake in Spirit Airlines?Trump: They were going to merge with People Express or one of them and Obama decided it was a bad idea. How did that work out? I think we just buy it. And when the price of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a… pic.twitter.com/dYKc6NhLjc— Acyn (@Acyn) April 23, 2026

Reporter: Is the government going to buy a stake in Spirit Airlines?Trump: They were going to merge with People Express or one of them and Obama decided it was a bad idea. How did that work out? I think we just buy it. And when the price of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a… pic.twitter.com/dYKc6NhLjc

It’s likely that Trump was referring to the Spirit’s attempted merger with JetBlue, which was successfully challenged in 2024 under Joe Biden’s administration over concerns that it would eliminate Spirit’s low-cost service, dull competition, and drive up prices.

The Trump administration reportedly neared a $500 million deal with Spirit Airlines Wednesday that would leave the federal government with a 90 percent stake in the company.

“We’re thinking about doing it, helping them out, meaning bailing them out or buying it. I think we just buy it. We’d be getting it virtually debt free. They have some good aircraft, some good assets and when the price of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit,” Trump said.

“I’d love to be able to save those jobs, I’d love to be able to save an airline,” he added.

This decision further underscores Trump’s willingness to spend taxpayer dollars without congressional approval. And the president’s mistaking Jet Blue for People Express and Obama for Biden is just another instance of Trump’s apparent cognitive decline.

Democrats Urge USPS to Defy Trump Order Undermining Voting Rights

In a letter shared exclusively with The New Republic, ranking members on the House Oversight and Administration Committees urged the USPS to oppose Donald Trump’s recent executive order regarding mail-in voting.

Lead Democrats on the House Oversight and Administration Committees are urging the U.S. Postal Service to refuse President Donald Trump’s executive order to illegally limit mail-in voting.

In a letter Friday to the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, shared exclusively with The New Republic, Ranking Members Robert Garcia and Joe Morelle argued the agency should refuse to implement an executive order instructing the USPS to refuse to deliver ballots of anyone who is not on a federal voting list.

The lawmakers argue in the letter that Trump has no authority over the USPS, which is an independent agency only accountable to its own board of governors.

The USPS is specifically barred from making “any undue or unreasonable discrimination among users of the mails,” the letter noted, and Trump’s executive order would have the agency illegally perform election administration duties.

Trump’s order, signed in late March, directed that states could notify USPS whether they plan to allow mail-in or absentee ballots up to 90 days before a federal election, and “should” notify the agency whether they intend to supply a list of eligible voters within 60 days of the election.

The order also directed USPS to produce a set of mail-in and absentee participation lists for each state, and refuse to deliver ballots for anyone who is not on them. However, there is no law that requires states to provide this information to the USPS, or authorizes USPS to require states to provide that data.

The timeline presented by the EO could potentially leave millions of Americans disenfranchised. “All 50 states and the District of Columbia allow voters to register to vote and apply to vote by mail until and up to 60 days before an election, with some states setting vote by mail application deadlines much later than 60 days,” the letter said.

“In addition, it is not clear how the Postal Service would reconcile differences or verify the accuracy of state-supplied voter lists alongside a DHS State Citizenship List. This EO will quickly create a two-tiered voting system where some Americans’ right to vote would be denied,” the letter said.

The Democratic lawmakers requested to know whether the board of governors planned to implement Trump’s order, and which specific provisions it would attempt to satisfy. They also requested a staff-level briefing be held to explain how the agency plans to respond, and address the concerns outlined in the letter.

Officials from at least two dozen states have already sued the Trump administration to oppose this executive order, which threatens states’ constitutional right to oversee their own elections. The letter points to Trump’s threats to “nationalize” or “take over” federal elections, as well as his baseless claims of voter fraud.

Republicans are also still attempting to pass the SAVE America Act, which would prohibit universal mail-in voting, although Senate Majority Leader John Thune has indicated the measure is not his top priority. Under that legislation, voters would have to submit an application to receive a mail-in ballot.

Trump’s Latest Truth Social Rampage Proves He’s Hanging On by a Thread

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