By Bo Erickson
DAYTON, Ohio, Oct 3 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump on Saturday posted online the supposed phone number of a Republican US senator, escalating a feud over daylight saving time.
Trump’s social media post urged people to call a phone number that he said belonged to Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican.
The dispute centers on the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent and 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 during winter months.
“Everybody in Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
When Reuters called the Arkansas number, it went directly to a voicemail box that did not identify itself as belonging to Cotton.
It’s the president’s second posting in as many days about Cotton’s opposition to the bill.
“Nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year and, having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning!” Trump wrote.
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.
In a Senate speech last October, Cotton said he would “always oppose” making daylight saving time permanent, adding that it would “again make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans.”
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 immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
GOLFERS, FARMERS CITED AS SUPPORTERS
The first constituency that Trump cited as wanting the change was golfers. The president shared an October 1 letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp supporting the bill.
“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” said Trump, who often spends weekends at his golf clubs around the country.
He also pointed to tennis players, hunters and farmers as proponents of year-round daylight saving time.
This 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.
The intra-party dispute comes as Trump campaigns for Republicans across the country, including in Ohio on Saturday.
Cotton is running for re-election but his race is not considered competitive, as Trump received more than 64% of the Arkansas vote in the 2024 presidential election.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and David Shepherdson; Editing by Sergio Non and Sanjeev Miglani)
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