Trump shares Senator Tom Cotton’s phone number in daylight saving time clash

US President Donald Trump shared online the supposed phone number of a Republican US senator on Saturday in an escalating dispute over making daylight saving time permanent.

In a social media post, the president urged people to call a phone number he said belonged to Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who opposes the Trump-backed Sunshine Protection Act. The act would end the twice-yearly practice ‌of changing clocks by one hour.

Trump says most Americans want more afternoon sunlight, but Cotton has argued the change would plunge early risers into darkness in winter.

“Everybody in Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill,” Trump said on social media.

Cotton did not directly respond to Trump’s statement, but posted on social media: “No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter.

“Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”

When Reuters called the number Trump gave ⁠for Cotton, it went directly to a voicemail box that did not identify itself as belonging to the senator.

Supporters of permanent daylight saving time say adjusting clocks disrupts sleep and increases road ‌accidents, while critics argue later winter sunrises would leave children travelling to school and commuters heading to work in the dark.

Trump on Saturday published three social media posts – one in the morning and two in the afternoon – focused on daylight saving time. In a subsequent five-minute session ‌with journalists at the White House, he spent more than half the time talking about the twice-yearly practice of changing clocks by one hour.

Most US states have ⁠observed the time switch since the 1960s. Clocks ⁠this year are slated to switch back to standard time on November 1.

“It discombobulates everybody,” Trump said, complaining to reporters that losing afternoon daylight caused lateness for meetings and dinner and made it difficult to play more than ‌14 holes of golf. He also suggested that more daylight would reduce crime.

“You know who wants it? The farmers want it. You know who wants it? Sports want it,” Trump told reporters before heading to a campaign rally in Ohio.

“Professional sports ‌and amateurs ‌that would like to play tennis at night, would like to play golf a little bit without having to run home after 14 holes.”

Trump, an avid golfer, earlier shared an ‌October 1 letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, writing: “The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments.”

After Cotton published his ⁠statement, the president responded with a post that framed the matter in political terms.

“Give the Republican Party a Senatorial WIN, for a change! … TAKE THE WIN TOM, JUST TAKE THE WIN! ⁠YOU NEED IT, AND SO DOES OUR BELOVED REPUBLICAN PARTY!” Trump said.

Cotton is running for re-election but his race is not considered competitive, as Trump received more than 64 per cent of the Arkansas vote in the 2024 presidential election.

The US House of Representatives passed the bill in July, but Cotton is not alone in the ‌Senate. Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, this week ‌called the bill “dead as disco” and said he did not think that Senate Majority Leader John Thune would bring the measure for a vote.

The offices of Cotton and Thune did not respond to requests for comment.

Saturday’s post targeting Cotton is not the first time Trump has shared a senator’s phone number to make a point. During his first presidential campaign in 2015, Trump read Senator Lindsey Graham’s phone number at a rally and dismissed the South Carolina Republican as an “idiot”.

They later reconciled, with the late Graham becoming one of Trump’s highest-profile allies in Congress.