Morning Note

Remember when the Biden administration blocked the proposed merger between Spirit Airlines and JetBlue? The move, which Pete Buttigieg celebrated, may have cost the former its existence. 

Spirit Airlines officially halted all operations on Saturday, canceling all flights and shutting down customer service after failing to secure a $500 million federal bailout. The budget airline had filed for bankruptcy twice since 2024 and had lost over $2.5 billion since the start of 2020. The Trump administration’s proposed bailout would have given the government a 90% stake in the airline. A "creditor issue" prevented a rescue plan. 

The Iran War was the final nail in Spirit’s coffin, as skyrocketing energy costs left the company with “no choice but to begin this wind-down.” The price of U.S. jet fuel has nearly doubled since Operation Epic Fury began. America’s “special alliance” with Israel, which is the reason we are entangled in this conflict, is to blame. 

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Joe Biden was a terrible president, but not everything he did was destructive. Perhaps his best policy was his mandate that ticket companies display full prices at all times and not tack on hidden fees once customers reach the checkout page. A similar rule may soon apply to food delivery apps.

Congressman Dan Goldman on Friday introduced legislation to require food and grocery apps to provide shoppers with all fees up front. The bill would spare consumers from thinking they’re about to spend $80 on groceries, then discovering at the last moment that their bill really eclipses $95. 

“Americans deserve to know what they’re paying for and shouldn’t be surprised by hidden fees,” the lawmaker said. “The PRICE Act would ensure that delivery apps disclose all costs up front and explain any fees so that consumers can shop confidently without unexpected charges.”

The proposal would apply to companies like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. The FTC would serve as its main enforcer.

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The United States is famous for inserting its military in the Middle East, Korea, South America, and Europe, but did you know we have troops in Africa, too? 

Two U.S. Army soldiers went missing off the coast of Morocco over the weekend, vanishing during an annual training exercise in the North African nation. Witnesses last saw the pair near the region’s ocean cliffs. Initial reports indicate they may have fallen into the water.

The training exercise, known as African Lion, is the largest annual joint military exercise led by AFRICOM, one of the U.S. Department of Defense's 11 unified combatant commands. This year's spectacle involves over 7,000 personnel from the U.S., Africa, and NATO. It takes place outside the city of Tan-Tan. 

African Lion has gotten Americans killed before. In 2012, two Marines died in a helicopter crash while participating in the exercise. Were those deaths worth it? Is defending Tan-Tan really a vital U.S. interest? 

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The Pentagon on Friday announced plans to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next year. It turns out that number might be low.

President Trump said on Saturday that the withdrawal would be much larger than originally indicated, telling reporters, “We’re going to cut way down. And we're cutting a lot further than 5,000.” Approximately 36,000 active-duty American service members are currently stationed in the country.

Globalist Republican lawmakers unsurprisingly oppose Trump’s plan. Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers said the withdrawal makes them “very concerned” on Saturday, fearing it could send “the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.”

Like the African city of Tan-Tan, what does sending a signal to Putin have to do with the United States? Permanent Washington’s insistence that U.S. troops continue to occupy foreign lands shows that running our country is not their concern. 

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Reporting this brings us no joy, but Donald Trump’s popularity is in the gutter. The president’s disapproval rating has reached 62%, the worst of his two terms, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.

The survey found Trump underwater on every issue measured. Only 32% of respondents approved of his handling of the Iran War, and an even smaller sect, 23%, gave a thumbs up to his management of the cost of living. 66% said our country is headed in the wrong direction. Even the share of Republicans who strongly approve of the president dropped by 8%. 

The good news is that this problem is fixable. We are only 18 months removed from when Trump was more popular than ever. If he pivots to governing as he said he would during the 2024 campaign, meaning focusing on affordability and putting America First, then his numbers will shoot back up.

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Washington State Patrol on Friday announced the arrest of an illegal immigrant who spent 14 years on its Most Wanted list. 

Authorities captured 33-year-old Manuel Cortez-Vargas in Madera, California, booking him in a local jail before his extradition to Washington State. ICE quickly confirmed that he is in the United States illegally. 

Cortez-Vargas’s case dates back to 2012, when police say he crashed his car at 3 AM and caused it to land upside down in a swamp. He escaped the vehicle, but his passenger remained trapped and drowned. Cortez-Vargas allegedly fled instead of reporting the accident and joined WSP’s Most Wanted list after failing to appear in court. 

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The Obama-era Ivanpah Solar Power Plant is supposed to help the environment. But does it?

The California facility uses hundreds of thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight into its towering structures, generating intense heat to produce electricity. While that may sound nice, the beams have proven deadly. They kill thousands of birds each year. 

The bright towers attract insects, which in turn attract birds. Many birds then fly through the plant’s concentrated solar beams, causing them to fry to a crisp. Others die by crashing into the towers. The “clean” facility also burns natural gas daily and produces up to 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

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Rudy Giuliani’s spokesperson announced the former New York mayor’s hospitalization in critical condition on Sunday, disclosing that the 81-year-old may be in his final days. His prognosis is unknown. 

Donald Trump celebrated Giuliani after the news broke, calling him “the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR” who was “RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”

Giuliani was previously hospitalized last September after suffering a fractured vertebra in a car crash. He has two children. We are pulling for him.

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The Iran War has entered a new phase.

Energy costs shot up immediately after Operation Epic Fury began, but the prospect of a quick resolution kept them from spiraling completely out of control. Donald Trump said on March 1st that the war would likely last “four to five weeks.” Prices somewhat reflected his optimism. They no longer do.

As of this newsletter’s release, America’s average gallon of gas costs $4.46, up from $4.11 one week ago, $4.10 one month ago, and well below $3 in February. Your average Californian is now paying over $90 to fill their 15-gallon tank, and prices have even hit $5 in Indiana, which is supposed to be one of the most affordable states. 

This latest spike is the result of the global realization that the war may drag on for the long haul. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the Iranians have little incentive to cave to Israel’s nuclear demands, and Washington lacks a coherent strategy for fixing the mess. If Republicans thought voters were mad two months ago, they’ll be in for a seriously rude awakening if nothing changes by the midterms. Given the White House has pinned itself into a corner, a once-in-a-generation public relations campaign may be the party’s best hope. Neocons took a stab at one last week.

Rather than promising to lower costs, the war machine’s spokespeople have shifted to telling Americans they should feel thankful for high prices. 

“We have higher gas prices, but the tradeoff is we’re going to live in freedom and democracy, and we’re not going to have somebody that’s a lunatic that’s going to drop a nuclear weapon on us,” Senator Rick Scott scoffed last week when asked if any amount of money is too much for this war.

Pete Hegseth is singing a similar tune.

“I would simply ask you what the cost is of an Iranian nuclear bomb,” the Defense Secretary told Congress when asked to estimate how much extra Americans will spend on food and gas because of the war. The estimated answer is $5,000 per household over the next year. 

According to Scott and Hegseth’s narrative, no war cost is too high because America’s only options were to start this conflict or get nuked. The president has said the same thing. But is it true? Even if Iran is as terrible as neocons say, was it ever really a threat to the United States? The answer is no.

Take this report from March. It reveals that no U.S. intelligence suggested Iran planned to attack America unless we struck them first. Or recall Marco Rubio’s admission that Washington started this war to prevent Israel, not Iran, from dealing the opening blow. And thirdly, consider the fact that Ali Khamenei famously issued a fatwa, a sacred decree in Shia Islam, declaring the use of nuclear weapons against the Muslim faith. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian backed this up last July, saying, “It is religiously forbidden for us to go after a nuclear bomb.”

None of those realities would exist if America’s only choices were to launch Operation Epic Fury or fall victim to the Iranian equivalent. A third option existed, and it still does. Rather than continuing to pretend Iran is an inherent enemy of our country, U.S. leaders could wake up and recognize that just because Israel hates the Iranians does not mean we must feel the same way. Adopting that basic America First posture would reduce our war costs to zero, because we would not have to fight Iran at all. This entire thing is a globalist charade.