Trump's doxxing of Tom Cotton will not fix the American clocks
By Dana Whitfield · Reporting from Washington ·
Trump is using a harassment campaign to force the Sunshine Protection Act through the Senate, but he ignores the safety risks of dark winter mornings.
Donald Trump is wrong to treat a legislative disagreement as a social media vendetta. He is substituting a policy debate with a harassment campaign. He is doxxing Senator Tom Cotton to push a bill that prioritizes the PGA Tour over the safety of school children.
The fantasy of afternoon light
The Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time permanent. The House passed the bill in July by a 308 to 117 vote. According to CBS News, Trump believes the answer is to simply shout down the opposition. He published what he claimed was Senator Cotton's personal cellphone number on social media.
Trump argues that afternoon sunshine is better than early morning light. He claims the PGA Tour needs more daylight to finish tournaments. He believes regular golfers and hunters want more light.
The strongest case for the bill is simple. The biannual clock change is a nuisance. Proponents argue that resetting clocks is a waste of time. But resetting a clock is a small price for the safety of a child waiting for a bus in the dark. Trump won Arkansas by 34 points, but that does not make his arithmetic correct.
The lesson of 1974
Senator Tom Cotton is not merely being stubborn. He is acting on a long record of failure. Daylight saving time was first adopted. The long record predicts this bill will fail. For this to differ, the American public would have to suddenly accept the risk of dark winter mornings.
The Emergency Daylight Saving Time Act made daylight saving time effective year-round for a trial period. It was intended to decrease energy use during the oil crisis. Al Jazeera reports that Congress repealed the 1974 law in less than a year. The public hated the pitch-dark commutes.
It is the same playbook used during the pressure on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change a certified outcome. The Raffensperger call proved that personal coercion cannot override established legal processes. Cotton knows that the circadian costs of dark mornings are a real safety risk.
The cost of bypassing institutions
Trump is attempting to steamroll the Senate. He claims it is easy to stop a bill in the Senate because it only takes one person. He is right about the mechanics, but wrong about the remedy. His pressure campaign is an attack on the very institutions that make deals possible.
Cotton has a history of this stance. He blocked the identical daylight saving time bill in 2022. Senator John Kennedy has already described the current effort as "dead as disco." He does not believe Senate Republican Leader John Thune will bring the measure for a vote.
Senator Tom Cotton will maintain his blockade of the Sunshine Protection Act. He will prevent the bill from reaching a floor vote before the midterms. The Senate Republican leadership will quietly shelve the measure. We cannot simply will the sun to rise. The only workable answer is to accept the biannual clock change. It is a small price to pay for the safety of our children.