Trump publicly shares phone number of US senator in bid to permanently change America's standard time
Donald Trump continues to champion the Sunshine Protection Act, with the 47th President of the United States calling for support when it comes to changing America's standard time to Daylight Saving Time (DST). As it currently stands, most parts of the US set their clocks one hour ahead of standard time in the period between spring and fall.
Supporters argue a standardized DST would reduce schedule disruption, give us more daylight during the evening, and lower rates of seasonal depression, while critics point to sleep and health experts saying a permanent standard time aligns better with human circadian rhythms.
They also note that year-round DST leads to late winter sunrises, which are a possible danger when it comes to children commuting to school in darkness.
Due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Americans currently move their clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. Even though the U.S. House of Representatives voted 308 to 117 in favor of passing the Sunshine Protection Act, not everyone is sold.
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This includes Arkansas' Senator Tom Cotton, with Donald Trump taking to Truth Social to vent about his Republican critic. Writing on social media, the POTUS added: "Almost everybody wants 'The Sunshine Protection Act' to pass, except for Tom Cotton.
"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.”
Despite Cotton calling Trump "a friend of mine," the president has been accused of doxxing him by appearing to share his personal phone number.
Imploring citizens to "call Tom on his cellphone," Trump shared a number with an Arkansas area code.
According to The New York Times, calls to the number go to an automated voicemail that says the unknown recipient was 'temporarily unavailable'.
We've not tried year-round DST since 1974, but assuming the bill passes, it'll be interesting to see if there's the same backlash this time around and it's repealed as quickly as it was last time.
Trump is a big fan of golf, and bizarrely at the center of his argument is the PGA Tour. In the president's takedown of Cotton, he included a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, saying the extra hour of daylight means there would be an extra 23 million rounds of golf every year.
Cotton has clapped back at the president without mentioning the apparent sharing of his personal phone number.
In his own post on Facebook, Cotton mused: "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."
Saying that Arkansans don't want their kids going to school in the dark, Cotton reiterated: "And I’ll always put Arkansas first."
We're reminded this isn't the first time Trump has shared someone's number with the world, famously telling Americans to call Senator Lindsey Graham during the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
Speaking at Graham's funeral, Trump admitted this is something he shouldn't have done, but went on to read the digits aloud again.
The latest doxxing allegations have earned the attention of Sen. John Kennedy, who told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that DST isn't a matter that has "existential significance for the future of Western civilization."
After calling Trump his friend, Kennedy said the POTUS can go from 0 to a-hole in three seconds and concluded: “I don’t think he should have given out Tom’s cellphone number. I don’t think that’s going to help convince Tom.”