Former President Donald Trump has escalated his campaign to secure Republican Senator Tom Cotton’s backing for the Sunshine Protection Act, appearing to share the Arkansas lawmaker’s personal cellphone number with the public in a direct appeal for constituents to pressure their senator into supporting the daylight saving time reform.
The move comes as the legislation seeks to make daylight saving time permanent across the United States, a measure that passed the House in July but faces significant resistance in the Senate. Trump’s weekend social media post explicitly urged Arkansans to contact Cotton directly, writing that the senator is “stopping the Bill” and that passing the proposal would benefit professional golfers by providing more daylight during their rounds.
Public Pressure Campaign Meets Senate Resistance
Trump’s unconventional lobbying strategy involved posting what appeared to be Cotton’s personal phone number with an Arkansas area code, encouraging citizens to “tell Tom to, GET IT DONE!” on social media. The move quickly drew attention as journalists from both the Associated Press and The Guardian attempted to reach the number, only to encounter busy signals and full voicemail boxes.
The Sunshine Protection Act enjoys support from the current administration and time-reform advocates who argue that permanent daylight saving time would extend daylight during Americans’ most active evening hours. However, the proposal encounters substantial opposition from within Trump’s own party, with several Republican senators questioning the potential consequences for winter morning safety.
Cotton’s Opposition Grounded in Winter Safety Concerns
Senator Cotton, who serves on the Senate intelligence committee and holds a position in Republican leadership, made his stance clear through a social media response shortly after Trump’s appeal. “No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent daylight saving time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” he wrote.
The Arkansas senator’s opposition centres on concerns about dark winter mornings, particularly for children awaiting school buses and parents commuting to work. Under his analysis, Cotton warned that Arkansas could see sunrise times delayed until 8:00am or 8:30am during the deepest winter months—a scenario that would create hazardous conditions for daily morning routines.
Trump Fires Back with Counter-Argument
In a swift rebuttal posted from his northern Virginia golf club, Trump turned the argument on its head, contending that Cotton would truly serve Arkansas better by supporting the legislation. “If Tom Cotton were putting Arkansas first, he would give them an extra hour of daylight and, more importantly, they wouldn’t have to run all over their houses, farms, workplaces, and everywhere else, twice a year, having to change their clocks, and often forgetting to do so,” Trump wrote.
The president framed the biannual clock changes as a burdensome inconvenience that affects Arkansans year-round, arguing that eliminating these transitions would provide genuine practical benefits to the state’s residents.
Historical Precedent and Public Opinion
This isn’t Trump’s first instance of releasing personal contact information for political opponents. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he shared Senator Lindsey Graham’s cellphone number after the South Carolina lawmaker criticised Trump’s military service comments about John McCain. The controversy sparked a viral video of Graham destroying multiple flip phones before later becoming one of Trump’s closest allies until his death in July.
Recent polling data from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals that if forced to choose, 47% of American adults oppose maintaining the current system requiring twice-yearly clock changes, while 40% remain neutral and only 12% favour the status quo. The research indicates a clear public preference for permanent daylight saving time over the existing framework.
Congressional interest in daylight saving time reform dates back to its origins as a wartime measure in 1942. The Senate passed similar legislation in 2022, but the proposal stalled in the House before reaching President Biden’s desk. The current iteration continues to navigate the complex political landscape, with party unity and constituent concerns playing pivotal roles in its prospects.
Why it Matters
Trump’s aggressive public pressure campaign against his own party colleague highlights the deep divisions within the Republican Party over daylight saving time reform and demonstrates how personal political dynamics can override traditional legislative processes. The controversy also underscores broader questions about the appropriate role of former presidents in influencing current policy debates and raises concerns about the privacy and safety of elected officials in an era of intense political polarization.
