Utah Sen. Mike Lee seemingly blamed Warren for the fall of Spirit Airlines, though the company itself attributed its demise to rising fuel prices amid the Iran war
Credit: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee appeared to blame his Democratic colleague, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for the abrupt shutdown of Spirit Airlines with a post comparing her to O.J. Simpson
- Warren has received renewed criticism in recent days for a 2024 social media post that cheered a federal court ruling blocking a merger between Spirit and JetBlue
- The budget airline announced on Saturday, May 2, that it would cease operations after more than three decades, following the collapse of rescue talks with the Trump administration
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee appeared to blame his Democratic colleague, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for the abrupt shuttering of Spirit Airlines over the weekend. The budget airline announced on Saturday, May 2, that it would cease operations after 34 years.
In an early morning post on Monday, May 4, Lee reposted a photo from a right-wing X account of O.J. Simpson and his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, for whose 1994 killing Simpson was criminally tried but acquitted. (Simpson, who died in 2024, was later found liable for the wrongful deaths of Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in a separate civil trial in 1997.)
In Lee’s post, originally published by an account called “TheRicanMemes,” white, blocky text reading “Elizabeth Warren” appears over Simpson’s chest, while “Spirit Airlines” appears over Brown Simpson, implying that Warren was responsible for the airline’s demise. “Nailed it,” Lee captioned his post.
The senator’s post, which he made from his personal “BasedMikeLee” account on X, follows renewed criticism of Warren’s opposition to a proposed $3.8 billion merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in 2024. The former Democratic presidential candidate had publicly cheered a federal court decision blocking the merger, calling it “a Biden win for flyers.”
Warren appeared to address the revived backlash on Saturday, shortly after Spirit announced it would wind down all operations after it failed to secure a multibillion-dollar bailout from President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Spiking fuel prices from Trump’s war was the nail in the coffin for twice-bankrupted Spirit airline,” Warren said Saturday on X, referencing fighting in Iran that recently entered its second month. The JetBlue merger, she added, had failed “because a judge, appointed by Ronald Reagan, said the deal was illegal.”
“Republicans are desperate to shift blame from higher costs hitting families,” Warren said.
In court papers filed Monday, Spirit said it was forced to shut down because “recent geopolitical events resulted in a massive and sustained increase in fuel prices.” While the airline did not specify which geopolitical events had caused costs to spike, global gas prices have risen significantly since the start of the Iran war in February.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
A spokesperson for Warren declined to comment directly on Lee’s post, but pointed PEOPLE to a letter written by Warren and Lee in April opposing a rumored merger between United and American Airlines. Scott Kirby, United Airlines’ chief executive, confirmed late last month that American had rebuffed his proposal.
In their letter to Kirby and Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines, Warren and Lee wrote that a merger between two of the world’s largest airlines “could lead to increased prices for consumers, at a time when airlines are already squeezing flyers through higher fares and fees.”
The letter, sent on April 20, mentions Spirit and other budget airlines by name, referencing a recent “turf war” at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
“Low-cost carriers are already struggling to compete in the face of United’s tactics at O’Hare, with Spirit concerned that the turf war will squeeze out low-cost carriers and Southwest announcing it will discontinue service entirely,” Warren and Lee wrote. “A combined UnitedAmerican airline would be the largest airline in the world, and could exploit its outsized market power to shut out smaller competitors, including by preventing them from accessing airport facilities.”
Read the full article here
