Some influential Republicans sounded the alarm on reports that the Trump administration was nearing a deal to bail out Spirit Airlines with up to $500 million in government financing.

“If Spirit’s creditors or other potential investors don’t think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either. Not the best use of taxpayer dollars,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a Trump loyalist, said in a statement Wednesday.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had harsher words.

“This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea,” he wrote on social media, adding that “the government doesn’t know a damn thing about running a failed budget airline.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) weighed in as well while also taking a dig at the prior administration.

“Just as Biden’s DOJ shouldn’t have prevented Spirit Airlines from merging with viable partners, Americans shouldn’t be on the hook for another failing business as its competition thrives,” he wrote in a social media post.

Even Trump’s own transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, raised some concerns about the potential bailout in an interview with Reuters.

“What we don’t want to do is put good money after bad, and there’s been a lot of money thrown at Spirit, and they haven’t found their way into profitability. And so would we just forestall the inevitable and then own that?” he said. “We can’t make dumb investments.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who went from Trump ally to one of his loudest GOP critics, also expressed her dismay.

“The Trump admin is going to bail out Spirit Airlines with $500 million of your tax dollars but refuse to do anything to lower the cost of health insurance. Or cost of living. Or gas and diesel. Those are actually going up because of Trump’s war in Iran with no end in sight,” she wrote on X. Greene also described the possible bailout as “the same America LAST bullshit from your government.”

The potential bailout would aim to help the floundering airline emerge from bankruptcy, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. The U.S. government could eventually own a significant stake in the airline as part of the agreement, the sources said.

During a CNBC interview on Tuesday, Trump hinted at an openness to supporting the low-budget airline.

“I think I’d love somebody to buy Spirit, as an example. You know, Spirit’s in trouble,” he said on “Squawk Box.” “Maybe the federal government should help that one out.”

“The Trump administration continues to monitor the situation and overall health of the U.S. aviation industry that millions of Americans rely on every day for essential travel and their livelihoods,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The Wall Street Journal.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former HuffPost journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been detained for

days in Kuwait. He must be freed immediately.

Learn more here.

Credit: Grace Rivera

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