Donald Trump published this Saturday on his social media platform Truth Social the cellphone number of Republican Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas, urging citizens of that state to directly pressure him to vote in favor of the law that would eliminate the biannual time change in the United States.
Trump accused Cotton on Truth Social of being the only obstacle preventing the progress of the bill in the Senate. "For some reason, Tom is blocking the bill in the Senate," wrote the president, who claimed that only the senator's vote is needed for the initiative to advance.
In the same message, Trump urged "everyone in Arkansas" to call Cotton "on his cell phone" and included the full number in the post. The president reminded that Arkansas is a state where he has always won by a large majority, which was a clear signal of political pressure on his Republican colleague.
The tactic had an immediate effect: the voicemail of the disseminated number was filled up within minutes. The AP agency tried to reach out unsuccessfully, and Fox News also reported that the line—bearing the area code of Dardanelle, Arkansas—went unanswered. Cotton's team did not respond immediately to the presidential post.
The disputed law, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, aims to permanently establish daylight saving time, which currently runs from March to November, thereby eliminating the clock adjustments twice a year. Trump defends it by arguing that "having sunlight in the afternoon is better than in the morning" and cited the PGA tournaments and golf enthusiasts as examples. "Almost everyone wants the Sunshine Protection Act to be approved except for Tom Cotton," he concluded.
Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has taken a strong stance against the initiative. His central argument is that year-round daylight saving time would lead to "absurdly late" sunrises in the winter—potentially as late as 8:00 a.m. or later in Arkansas—leaving children and workers commuting in total darkness. The senator has also reminded that Congress passed a similar measure in the past and later repealed it when the public experienced those consequences.
The House of Representatives approved the Sunshine Protection Act on July 14 with 308 votes in favor and 117 against, a substantial majority that has not resonated in the Senate. The bill has been stalled in that chamber for months, where Cotton has threatened to resort to a filibuster to block it permanently.
This is not the first time this proposal has advanced so far. In March 2022, the Senate approved an earlier version of the bill by unanimous consent, propelled at the time by Senator Marco Rubio, but the House of Representatives never brought it to a vote, and it did not become law.
The confrontation between Trump and Cotton marks an unusual rift within the Republican Party, with the president willing to mobilize public opinion in Arkansas against one of his own senators to push for a legislative outcome.
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