Donald Trump intensified his public pressure campaign against fellow Republican Tom Cotton, appearing to publish what looked like the Arkansas senator’s personal cellphone number.
Much of Trump’s Saturday commentary focused on The Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the country.
The measure cleared the House in July but has encountered resistance from Senate Republicans, including Cotton, one of its most outspoken opponents.
“For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it’s very easy to do, it only takes one!” Trump wrote on social media. He also argued that permanent daylight saving time would give professional golfers additional daylight to spend on the course.
Trump urged residents of Arkansas, a state he said he loves and has carried three times—the last by 34 points—to contact Cotton and “GET IT DONE,” adding that the effort would be welcomed by everyone.
The phone number Trump shared had an Arkansas area code. When Our News Outlet called, nobody answered, and the voicemail system indicated that the inbox was full.
The president posted repeatedly on Truth Social in support of the bill, including one message featuring a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the proposed change.
In another post, Trump said a group of “very distinguished people” had told him they disliked leaving for home after the mandatory clock change because darkness arrives so early, calling the experience “depressing.”
Donald Trump stepped up his pressure on fellow Republican Tom Cotton and appeared to share the Arkansas senator’s personal cellphone number
The bill passed the House in July but has faced opposition from Senate Republicans, including outspoken critic Tom Cotton
Supporters, including the White House, say permanent daylight saving time would keep more daylight available during the hours when Americans are generally most active.
Opponents counter that the policy would produce darker winter mornings, potentially creating safety concerns for children waiting for school buses and adults commuting to work.
The confrontation represented an unusually sharp escalation in a long-running disagreement between Trump and Cotton. Trump favors keeping daylight saving time year-round, while Cotton has forcefully argued against the idea.
The dispute comes only weeks before the midterm elections, when Republican leaders would rather see Trump highlight affordability issues and the party’s record in office. Cotton is also seeking reelection in November, although his contest is not considered competitive.
Daylight saving time refers to the period from spring through fall when clocks across most of the United States are moved one hour ahead of standard time.
Several states do not observe the practice. Under the proposed legislation, other states could also choose to opt out if their legislatures acted before the measure became law.
Cotton, who holds a leadership role among Senate Republicans, restated his opposition in a social media message posted Saturday afternoon.
Although Cotton has been one of the policy’s most vocal critics, he is not the only Republican senator resisting permanent daylight saving time.
Trump’s public attack marked a striking escalation in a longstanding dispute: he supports permanent daylight saving time, while Cotton strongly opposes it
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“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 wrote.
‘Arkansans don´t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I´ll always put Arkansas first.’
Trump, who is spending the day at his northern Virginia golf club before traveling to Ohio later Saturday, promptly fired back.
‘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 said, adding that ‘that is really putting Arkansas FIRST.’
A 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening.
Only 12 percent of U.S. adults favor the current system of daylight saving time, which requires people in most states to change their clocks twice a year, while 47 percent oppose it and 40 percent are neutral.
Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942.
The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.
Proponents, including the White House, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active
If Cotton’s personal number was published, this is not the first time Trump has resorted to this tactic.
While competing for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina described Trump as ‘unfit for office’ after Trump denigrated the military service of Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Trump then released Graham´s personal cellphone number. That prompted a viral video in which the senator dramatically destroyed a series of flip phones.
Graham later became a close ally of Trump. In contrast, although they share many of the same policy positions, Trump and Cotton are not known to be close.
Cotton, one of the Republican Party’s most prominent national security voices, has advocated for a more hawkish approach on Iran, particularly as Trump entertains pauses in military strikes amid the seven-month war.
In Trump’s first term, Cotton was a critic of the president’s attempts at overhauling the nation’s sentencing laws, calling the proposal a ‘jailbreak.’
Earlier this year, Cotton had temporarily defied Trump’s attempts at stalling the confirmation process for his own nominee for director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton.
The president had wanted to ensure his interim pick for the intelligence job, Bill Pulte, would be able to serve in that role at least briefly when the former director, Tulsi Gabbard, left the job.
But the appointment of Pulte, who had no known national security credentials, drew bipartisan condemnation from Capitol Hill and Cotton had tried to expedite Clayton’s confirmation process, which could have prevented Pulte from being installed as acting director.
But Trump ultimately ordered Clayton to not appear before Cotton’s committee for his confirmation hearing, and Pulte served in the job for several weeks this summer. Clayton was eventually confirmed by the Senate in late July.
