Trump wants to run another bankrupt airline — and even MAGA is worried

On April 22, Reuters reported that according to three sources, the Trump administration was getting closer to a deal that would give troubled Spirit Airlines a $500 million bailout. And Republican allies of President Donald Trump were quick to voice their opposition — including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who described a possible Spirit bailout as an "absolutely terrible idea." Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) commented that the bailout would be "not the best use of taxpayer dollars."

In an article published on April 28, Salon's Heather Digby Parton notes that Trump could soon be running an airline — an idea that even MAGA is worried about.

Parton notes that while liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is asking if "the failed airline executives [will] be held accountable," conservative Sen. Tedd Budd (R-North Carolina) argues that "Americans shouldn't be on the hook for another failing business as its competition thrives."

The Salon journalist points out that Sean Duffy, secretary of transportation in the Trump Administration, told 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?"

According to Parton, Trump ran an airline in the past — and it didn't go well.

"With the federal government reportedly close to stepping in with a $500 million bailout plan," Parton explains, "Trump apparently wants to buy it outright and run it. The president does, after all, have experience with bankrupt airlines. Nearly 40 years ago, he ran one into the ground. Between 1989 and 1992, he owned the Trump Shuttle, which ran routes between New York, Boston and Washington. He bought the fleet from Eastern Airlines as it was going out of business and immediately rebranded it from business-oriented flights to a luxury airline, retrofitting it with gold-plated fixtures in the lavatories and offering free champagne and steak dinners. Trump Shuttle never turned a profit."

Parton continues, "His timing was bad, having bought an airline at a time when corporate customers were cutting back. And, by 1990, with America on the verge of the first Gulf War, jet fuel prices were through the roof. At the same time, Trump's casinos were in trouble, and his bankers were taking over his businesses in order to avoid personal bankruptcy. The airline defaulted on its debt in less than a year…. Trump now wants another bite of that apple, this time on the American taxpayers' dime."

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