
Did Joe Biden really kill Spirit Airlines?
From The Argument by Jerusalem Demsas & Matthew Yglesias
May 14, 2026 · 1h 9m
About this episode
The episode discusses the factors leading to the demise of Spirit Airlines and the political blame directed at Joe Biden.
Spirit Airlines is dead and the right, true to form, is blaming Joe Biden. The immediate cause of Spirit's demise is pretty clear: the war with Iran spiked jet fuel costs, and the already-battered airline couldn't absorb the hit to its bottom line. Last we checked, Joe Biden didn't start any wars with Iran. In this episode, Matthew Yglesias and Jerusalem Demsas break down what really happened with Spirit Airlines, the weird history of aviation policy in the U.S., and the conspir...
People in this episode
Hosts: Matthew Yglesias, Jerusalem Demsas
Topics covered
- aviation policy
- Joe Biden
- Spirit Airlines
- jet fuel costs
- U.S. airlines
- political blame
Keywords
- Spirit Airlines
- Joe Biden
- aviation policy
- jet fuel costs
- Iran war
- airline industry
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Spirit Airlines
Places: Iran
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