Trump Posts Sen. Tom Cotton's Cell Number, Urges Arkansans to Pressure Him on Daylight Saving Bill

President Donald Trump posted what appeared to be Sen. Tom Cotton's personal cellphone number on Truth Social Saturday, urging Arkansas residents to call the Republican senator and pressure him to back the Sunshine Protection Act.

"Everybody in Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill," Trump wrote, according to The Hill. "For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it's very easy to do, it only takes one!"

The bill would end the twice-yearly clock change and lock the country on daylight saving time permanently. It passed the House 308-117 in July, according to multiple outlets including Fox News and NBC News. It has sat untouched in a Senate committee since.

What Trump Posted, and What Happened Next

Trump's number-sharing came in a 315-word Truth Social post, per the Daily Beast, after he'd already railed against Cotton in a separate post early Friday calling the legislation the "No More Changing of Clocks Act." He posted about Cotton a third time later Saturday, per NBC News, arguing Cotton isn't "putting Arkansas first."

The Associated Press and The Guardian both tried calling the number Trump posted. The Guardian got a carrier message saying the customer wasn't available. The AP reached a voicemail box that was full. The Daily Beast reported it couldn't leave a message either, saying the line was "inundated with calls." None of that proves the number is or isn't accurate, but it is consistent with a number that was suddenly flooded with traffic.

Trump has done this before. In 2015, as a candidate, he read out the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's cellphone number at a South Carolina rally after Graham called him a "jack---s," according to the Daily Beast. Graham joked afterward that he was "probably getting a new phone." Trump told mourners at Graham's funeral this summer that he regretted the stunt, per the Daily Beast.

Cotton's Response

Cotton didn't back down. He posted his own response on X, referred to by his office when The Hill sought comment.

"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changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter," Cotton wrote.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."

Cotton has made this argument before on the Senate floor, according to The Guardian. He pointed out that under permanent daylight saving time, sunrise in parts of Arkansas wouldn't arrive until 8 or 8:30 a.m. in the dead of winter. In Seattle, sunrise wouldn't arrive until 9 a.m. Williston, North Dakota would be pushed to nearly 9:45 a.m. He cited the country's brief 1974 experiment with permanent DST, which Congress repealed after public backlash over kids walking to school in the dark.

Cotton isn't alone. The Hill reports that both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Commerce Committee, including Majority Leader John Thune, previously voted against advancing the bill, and Thune has publicly doubted it can clear the 60-vote threshold.

Why It Doesn't Matter for Now

The practical reality is that the Senate is out of session until November 3, according to Fox News. No vote is happening before the midterms regardless of how many Arkansans call Cotton's phone.

Trump's post also included a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp backing the bill, citing a projected $1 billion in new annual direct revenue for the tour from extra evening daylight, per The Hill. Trump separately argued the change would cut crime, reduce car accidents, and help golfers, tennis players, hunters and farmers.

The Daily Beast's writeup framed the episode as a "temper tantrum" and speculated that Trump is chasing "an attainable win ahead of the midterms" because his broader agenda has become "increasingly unpopular" amid conflict with Iran and high gas prices. None of the other six sources reviewed here tie this specific Cotton dispute to Iran, gas prices, or midterm polling. That framing belongs to the Daily Beast, not to reporting established across outlets.

The unresolved question is straightforward: does public pressure actually move Cotton, or any of the other senators on record opposing the bill, once the Senate reconvenes November 3? Nothing in the record so far suggests it will.