In an interview on Thursday on NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight, O’Leary called the Trump administration’s reported $500 million plan to rescue Spirit Airlines a “really bad idea,” arguing that propping up failing companies undermines the logic of American capitalism.

“All of these rescue bailout programs for failing companies—capitalism works because the losers die, the protein goes to the bottom of the ocean, it’s acquired by private equity firms, lenders, or other strategic buyers, but it’s bad management,” O’Leary said. 

“You don’t want to support bad management. You want to let them die,” he continued. “That’s how the private system works. The best rise to the top, and the loser dogs go out of business.”

What’s happening with Spirit Airlines

The Shark Tank investor’s comments come as the Trump administration enters advanced talks over a financial rescue for the low-cost carrier. The package under discussion reportedly could include a loan of up to $500 million, with warrants that could give the federal government the right to own up to 90% of the airline after it exits bankruptcy.

Spirit has filed for bankruptcy twice in roughly a year: first in November 2024, then again in August 2025 after a federal judge blocked its proposed merger with JetBlue and the carrier struggled to adapt to the post-pandemic shift toward premium travel. 

The airline had been on track to exit its second bankruptcy this summer, until the cost of jet fuel surged following the outbreak of the U.S.–Iran conflict in late February. This would add an estimated $360 million to Spirit’s expenses if jet fuel stays around $4.60 per gallon, according to JPMorgan.

President Donald Trump signaled support for a rescue last week, telling CNBC: “Spirit’s in trouble, and I’d love somebody to buy Spirit.

“It’s 14,000 jobs, and maybe the federal government should help that one out,” he continued.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been one of the “chief proponents” inside the administration pushing for an ownership stake, CBS News reported. 

But the idea has drawn bipartisan resistance. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Reuters he was wary of putting “good money after bad.”

“There’s been a lot of money thrown at Spirit, and they haven’t found their way into profitability,” he said. “And so would we just ​forestall the inevitable and then own that? Or does Spirit have some ​pathway to make it? And I don’t know the answer to that.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also called the proposal “an absolutely terrible idea.”

“The TARP corporate bailouts were a huge mistake & the government doesn’t know a damn thing about running a failed budget airline (that the Biden admin killed),” Cruz wrote in an X post on April 22, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the $700 billion bailout program Congress passed in October 2008 during the financial crisis under then-President George W. Bush.

Tad DeHaven, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, also told Fortune’s Diane Brady the deal comes down to “money, power, and leverage.”

“What is desperately needed is for Congress to step in and say no to the government acquiring shares,” he warned. “This is a Pandora’s box.”

Spirit has repeatedly declined to comment on the negotiations and said it is “operating our business as normal.”

A familiar position for O’Leary

O’Leary’s attitude toward the potential Spirit Airlines bailout fits a long pattern for the investor, who is chairman of O’Leary Ventures and built his fortune after selling the Learning Co. (formerly SoftKey) to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999. 

The Shark Tank star has spent years using his platform to argue against government intervention in private markets. During the 2020 pandemic, O’Leary told CNBC that struggling airlines should “go bankrupt” rather than receive federal aid. And after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, he criticized regulators for backstopping uninsured depositors, citing moral hazard. 

Weeks later, as First Republic teetered, he told Bloomberg TV, weak regional banks should be allowed to fail: “Let the ones run by idiots go to zero. That’s the great thing about the markets, it finds the bad managers, culls them, and eliminates them.” He has also called student loan forgiveness “un-American.”

So his message about Spirit’s potential bailout was essentially the same one he’s made for years: Let the market decide.

“That’s what keeps America great. That’s why it works. That’s why it’s the number one economy on earth,” O’Leary said. “That’s why everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, to try and set themselves free.”