The Elitist Media broadcast evening news were reluctant to cast fellow travelers in a negative light when reporting about the sudden but not surprising announcement over the weekend that Spirit Airlines was shutting down. The Biden administration’s blocking of Spirit’s proposed merger with JetBlue barely got mentioned. That sole mention came on NBC Nightly News, where the blocked merger was both-sidesed with rising fuel costs as reasons for Spirit going out of business. A whole 18 seconds, for those keeping track: Evening news coverage of the Spirit shutdown barely mentioned the Biden-blocked merger with JetBlue as an underlying cause. CBS and ABC omitted outright, and NBC both-sidesed the merger. No mention of Elizabeth Warren. pic.twitter.com/6R5nRoWpVC — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 5, 2026 TOM COSTELLO: Today, Trump DoT Secretary Sean Duffy blamed President Biden for blocking a proposed merger with JetBlue in 2024. SEAN DUFFY: That merger would have been better for customers and he still said no to it. COSTELLO: But Biden's DoT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the war and higher fuel prices were to blame. 18 seconds, and no mention of Elizabeth Warren, who supported blocking the merger in the name of low fares and more customer choice. We all see how that worked out. Tom Costello made sure to include footage of current Secretary Duffy blaming the failed merger, but none of his predecessor Pete Buttigieg coming out in opposition and supporting the DoJ anti-trust lawsuit.  These 18 seconds, flawed as they were, were the sole mention of the failed merger on the broadcast evening news.  ABC made no mention of the failed merger on World News Tonight, making sure to place the blame squarely on rising fuel prices. CBS didn’t even do a standalone Spirit story for the Evening News, instead tacking it on to coverage of the potentially catastrophic near-miss at Newark. This isn’t to say that fuel prices weren’t a factor in Spirit’s demise. Their CEO cited fuel costs as the rationale for the shutdown, but it is important to note that the airline was financially hobbled by bankruptcy proceedings. And that the bankruptcy proceedings were initiated after the JetBlue merger was blocked. Fuel costs may have been the killshot, but the failed merger caused great damage and left Spirit vulnerable. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world to acknowledge both of these realities, instead of omitting critical facts in order to protect partisan Democrats from accountability over bad policy choices. One suspects that coverage would have been (D)ifferent had the merger been blocked by a Republican. Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective newscasts on Monday, May 4th, 2026: NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 5/4/26 6:43 PM TOM LLAMAS: Now to the stunning collapse of low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, which abruptly stopped flying over the weekend, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded, and so many employees without a job. Here's Tom Costello. TOM COSTELLO: Grounded and never to fly again as Spirit Airlines. The carrier's planes are tonight parked at airfields nationwide, tens of thousands of customers stuck. STRANDED CUSTOMER: I have a family of six, it is a couple of thousand dollars to get home now because they decided to not fly us home. COSTELLO: After Spirit's creditors rejected a government bailout, the airline's chief financial officer wrote in a court filing today, “there are no longer any viable paths to a restructuring or continued operations.”  Today, Trump DoT Secretary Sean Duffy blamed President Biden for blocking a proposed merger with JetBlue in 2024. SEAN DUFFY: That merger would have been better for customers and he still said no to it. COSTELLO: But Biden's DoT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the war and higher fuel prices were to blame. Spirit's biggest hubs included Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Las Vegas, Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston. In Atlantic City Spirit made up 75% of air service, leaving customers searching for options. 17,000 employees now out of work, many emotional, in front of company headquarters today. COLLEEN BURNS: I get on the phone with some of my family and friends at Spirit and, you know, we just start crying. COSTELLO: Tonight, many airlines are offering temporary lower fares to stranded Spirit customers. But with fuel prices soaring, summer vacation budgets are under threat. Domestic airfares already up 18% over last year. International is up 7.5% with expectations they will continue climbing as the war drags on. Tom. LLAMAS: And now less competition. All right, Tom. We thank you for that. ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 5/4/26 6:41 PM DAVID MUIR: Meantime, back here in the U.S., into the fallout after the sudden shutdown of Spirit Airlines. Tonight, the airline pointing to rising fuel costs during this war as the driving reason. So what now for passengers and the 17,000 employees? Here's Rebecca Jarvis. REBECCA JARVIS: Tonight, some 17,000 now former Spirit Airlines employees are wondering how they land back on their feet. And passengers are scrambling after the airline suddenly shut down. SPIRIT FRONT DESK AGENT: Your flight has now been canceled. JARVIS: The final flights landing in Dallas around midnight Saturday morning. Pilots from other airlines bidding farewell to their peers over the radio. AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT: Hey Spirit, from us guys at American. Good luck to you all. I'm sorry to hear what happened. JARVIS: Emotions on display outside Spirit headquarters in Florida. FLIGHT ATTENDANT: For us, it's not just the loss of the job. It's a routine. Our identities, our friendship. JARVIS: Spirit, which had already filed for bankruptcy twice, most recently last August, blaming its demise on skyrocketing fuel prices. Experts say the loss of Spirit could drive up ticket prices across the board. BRIAN SUMERS: When the industry has fewer seats in the market, prices go up. JARVIS: And David, prices have already been climbing, up 21% since a year ago. The average price of an economy ticket now $570. And as long as customers are willing to pay, prices are expected to remain higher. David. MUIR: All right, Rebecca. Our thanks to you as well. CBS EVENING NEWS 5/4/26 6:33 PM TONY DOKOUPIL: Over the past two years, U.S. commercial airlines have collided with a helicopter in flight, a fire truck on the runway, and now a semi tractor trailer on one of the busiest highways in America. Senior Transportation Correspondent Kris van Cleave joins us now. Kris, good evening. This plane came within feet of catastrophe, what happened? KRIS VAN CLEAVE: Well Tony, NTSB investigators now say based on damage to the plane, they consider this to be an accident in terms of their investigation. Now think about this: a tractor trailer is about 13 and a half feet tall. The landing gear on a 767- about 6 feet tall. So that puts the body of that airplane only about 20 feet above the pavement. The question now, why was it so low?  Dramatic video from Sunday. Truck driver Warren Broadly Jr. Was on the New Jersey Turnpike when out of nowhere his tractor-trailer is hit by a United Airlines 767 about to land at Newark airport. Watch again in slow motion. Out of the driver side window you can see part of the plane, then what appears to be the landing gear -- and now this picture has surfaced appearing to show the moment of impact between the jet with 231 people on board coming from Venice, Italy, and the truck. Police say the plane also struck a light pole, which hit an SUV. Look closely, you can see the bent light pole here. The plane was landing amid gusty winds on the shortest of Newark's three runways.  ROBERT ZUMWALT: This airplane was feet away from striking the ground. VAN CLEAVE: Former NTSB chair Robert Zumwalt.  ZUMWALT: This runway- as a former airline pilot I would consider this runway to be relatively short. And so I suspect the pilots wanted to make sure they were not landing long but unfortunately it appears that it got too low too soon. VAN CLEAVE: There were no injuries on board the plane. NEWARK TOWER: They felt something over the threshold and there's a hole in the side of the airplane.  VAN CLEAVE: United has removed the flight crew from duty and is pledging a thorough investigation as the NTSB has launched its own probe. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy. SEAN DUFFY: This is unacceptable. We have really well-trained pilots, this is one- this should never happen in America. VAN CLEAVE: Runway 29 buts up to the Turnpike, making scenes like this of airliners descending relatively low over passing traffic not an unusual sight.  Court documents reveal spirit learned the government lifeline was off the table on Thursday. After burning $100 million in additional fuel costs since March, Spirit ran out of money, stranding tens of thousands of flyers and leaving roughly 7500 Spirit staffers abruptly unemployed. Flight attendant Colleen Burns worked for Spirit for a decade. COLLEEN BURNS: We all feel like our wings were clipped. And even though I'm sure we will land other places, it's- it’s not going to be the same. VAN CLEAVE: The Department of Transportation says airlines have helped bring home nearly 100,000 stranded Spirit flyers since Saturday. But just this morning at the Fort Lauderdale airport we watched as a woman came in with bags in her hands thinking she was going to get on her Spirit flight- a flight that’s never taking off, Tony. DOKOUPIL: All right, Kris. Thank you very much.