President Trump published Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number online Saturday, escalating a dispute with the Arkansas Republican over legislation to make daylight saving time permanent, the New York Post reported. Cotton refused to back down, arguing that the change would leave children heading to school in winter darkness.
The clash puts Trump at odds with a senator he called “a friend” and turns a debate over seasonal clock changes into a public test of Republican unity. According to the Post, Trump identified Cotton as the main obstacle to the Sunshine Protection Act and urged Arkansas residents to pressure him.
The bill passed the House in July by a vote of 308-117, the Post reported, but remains stalled in the Senate. It would need 60 votes there to overcome a filibuster, leaving supporters with a procedural hurdle despite the sizable House majority.
Trump takes his pressure campaign public
Trump had singled out Cotton on Friday before releasing his number Saturday, according to the Post. The disclosure moved the president’s campaign beyond criticism of Cotton’s legislative position and put the senator’s personal contact information before the public.
“For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it’s very easy to do, it only takes one! It should pass overwhelmingly, in a Bipartisan fashion,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to the Post.
The president then appealed directly to Cotton’s constituents: “So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE!” The election figures were part of Trump’s post as quoted in the report.
Cotton is seeking reelection Nov. 3, according to the Post, placing the confrontation in the closing stretch of his campaign. His response did not concede ground to the president. Instead, he framed his opposition around the practical consequences for Arkansas families.
Cotton points to schoolchildren and winter sunrise
In a response on X quoted by the Post, Cotton said he shared the public’s dislike of changing clocks. His objection was to the proposed replacement: keeping daylight saving time throughout the year, including winter months when sunrise comes later.
“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changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton wrote.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,” he added.
The Post reported that Cotton has specifically raised concerns about children waiting for school buses in dark winter mornings. His argument draws a distinction between ending clock changes and deciding which schedule should govern the country year-round. Disliking the twice-yearly adjustment, in his account, does not settle the question of permanent daylight saving time.
The United States tried year-round daylight saving time in the 1970s before returning to seasonal clock changes, according to the Post. The report also noted that efforts to make daylight saving time permanent have gained traction in recent years.
A choice between morning and afternoon light
Trump’s case centers on avoiding clock adjustments and favoring sunshine later in the day. As quoted by the Post, he argued that “having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning!” He also cited the difficulty of reaching clocks on tall structures.
“It’s very expensive for our Nation where you have high and dangerous steeples to reach, like on churches and municipal buildings,” Trump wrote, according to the report. He asserted that almost everyone wanted the legislation passed except Cotton.
For families, the competing statements put two daily concerns at the center of the fight: afternoon daylight and the conditions children face on their morning trip to school. Trump favors the former; Cotton says the latter justifies his resistance.
The immediate legislative question remains whether supporters can advance the House-passed measure through the Senate. The Post reported no change in Cotton’s position after Trump’s disclosure, leaving the president’s public pressure campaign without the concession he demanded.
Source: nypost.com
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