Donald Trump has given out what appeared to be Tom Cotton’s personal phone number in an effort to pressure the Arkansas senator into backing a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent.
The President used several posts on Truth Social to urge Arkansas residents to contact Mr Cotton, who is among the most vocal Republican opponents of the Sunshine Protection Act.
The legislation passed the House in July but has encountered resistance in the Senate. Mr Trump argued that it would provide Americans with more evening daylight, including extra time for professional golfers on the course.
“For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it´s very easy to do, it only takes one!” Mr Trump wrote.
He added: “So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE! It will be appreciated by all.”
The number shared by the President had an Arkansas area code. When it was called, nobody answered and the voicemail box was full.
The daylight saving time dispute
Mr Trump also shared a letter from Brian Rolapp, chief executive of the PGA Tour, supporting the legislation, and complained about the effect of the twice-yearly clock change.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but a table full of very distinguished people just told me that they HATE, immediately after a mandatory time change, going home at night – and it’s DARK. It’s depressing!” he wrote.
Supporters of permanent daylight saving time, including the White House, say it would create more daylight during the hours when Americans are most active. Opponents warn that winter mornings would become darker, potentially putting children waiting for school buses and parents driving to work at greater risk.
Mr Cotton reiterated his opposition in a social media post of his own, arguing that earlier attempts to introduce permanent daylight saving time had been abandoned after Americans experienced very late winter sunrises.
“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changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” he wrote.
“Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I´ll always put Arkansas first.”
Mr Trump responded that Mr Cotton would be putting Arkansas first by giving residents “an extra hour of daylight” and removing the need to change clocks twice a year.
Daylight saving time is observed between spring and autumn in most parts of the United States, when clocks are moved forward by one hour. Under the proposed legislation, individual states would be able to opt out if their legislatures acted before it became law.
A 2025 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 47 per cent of US adults opposed the current system, while 40 per cent were neutral and 12 per cent supported it. If forced to choose, most respondents preferred retaining the extra hour of evening daylight.
The dispute comes weeks before the midterm elections, when Republicans would prefer Mr Trump to focus on affordability and the party’s record. Mr Cotton is standing for re-election in November, although his contest is not expected to be competitive.
It is not the first time Mr Trump has published a Republican senator’s personal contact information during a political dispute. In 2016, while seeking the Republican presidential nomination, he released the personal mobile number of the late South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham after Mr Graham criticised him.
Mr Graham later became a close ally of Mr Trump. The President and Mr Cotton share several policy positions but are not known to be close.
