U.S. President Donald Trump railed against Sen. Tom Cotton in a series of posts on Saturday, accusing the Arkansas Republican of holding up a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent and encouraging people to call the senator at his cellphone number.
“Everybody in Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill. It’s called, ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’ or, ‘We Don’t Want to Change Our Clocks Twice a Year Act,’” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself,” Trump said, including the senator’s phone number.
Cotton’s voicemail box was full when CNN called the number. Later, the phone rang three times before an automated voice said the “wireless customer” was not available. CNN has reached out to Cotton’s office for comment.
House members overwhelmingly supported a measure that would establish year-round Daylight Saving Time nationwide, passing legislation over the summer by a 308 to 117 vote. But the Senate has not moved on the issue since.
Trump has long criticized the semiannual clock change, though his position on whether the country should remain on standard time or Daylight Saving Time year-round has shifted over time.
Cotton, meanwhile, has opposed altering the status quo. In 2025, he objected to a bipartisan group of senators who sought unanimous consent to pass a similar Daylight Saving Time measure.
“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changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton posted on X shortly after Trump’s first post. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”
Trump then responded to Cotton in another post on Truth Social.
“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, work places, and everywhere else, twice a year, having to change their Clocks, and often forgetting to do so,” Trump wrote, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp sent to him this week expressing “the Tour’s strong support for the Sunshine Protection Act.”
Proponents of making Daylight Saving Time permanent argue it would spare Americans from having to change their clocks, disrupting young children’s sleep schedules and arguably causing more seasonal depression. But critics say it could have economic consequences, particularly for farmers who would have to wrestle with later sunrises. If Daylight Saving Time were made permanent, the sun could rise after 8 a.m. in several major U.S. cities during the winter months.
“TAKE THE WIN TOM, JUST TAKE THE WIN!” Trump wrote. “YOU NEED IT, AND SO DOES OUR BELOVED REPUBLICAN PARTY!”
It’s not the first time Trump has revealed a sitting senator’s number. He read out Sen. Lindsey Graham’s personal cellphone number to a crowded rally when the two were running in the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
By Molly English, Logan Schiciano, CNN
