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Donald Trump attempted to turn up the heat on fellow Republican Tom Cotton, even giving out what appeared to be the Arkansas senator's personal cell phone number.
asserted
what → sign → Cotton
The President spent much of Saturday speaking out in favor of The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight savings time permanent.
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time → spend → Act
The bill passed the House in July but faces roadblocks among Republicans, including Cotton, who is strongly opposed.
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who → pass → Cotton
'For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it´s very easy to do, it only takes one!'
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it → stop → one
Trump wrote on social media, noting that passing the bill would give professional golfers more time on the greens.
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passing → write → greens
'So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE!
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IT → love → Tom
It will be appreciated by all,' Trump said.
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Trump → appreciate → all
Trump included a phone number with an Arkansas area code.
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Trump → include → code
When The Daily Mail called the number, no one answered and the voicemail box was full.
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box → call → number
The President made multiple Truth Social posts in favor of the bill, including one that included a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp supporting it.
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that → make → it
One post read: 'I don’t know about anyone else, but a table full of very distinguished people just told me that they HATE, immediately after a mandatory time change, going home at night – and it’s DARK.
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it → read → night
It’s depressing!'
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It → ’ → ?
Donald Trump attempted to turn up the heat on fellow Republican Tom Cotton, even giving out what appeared to be the Arkansas senator's personal cell phone number
The bill passed the House in July but faces roadblocks among Republicans, including Cotton, who is strongly opposed
Proponents, including the White House, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active.
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Americans → attempt → times
Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.
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parents → say → darkness
It was a remarkable escalation on Trump's part of a longstanding fixation shared by both men - with Trump supporting making daylight saving time permanent, and Cotton vociferously opposed.
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Cotton → share → men
The squabble comes just weeks before the midterms, when Republicans would prefer that the president focus on talking about affordability issues and the party's achievements.
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president → come → issues
Cotton is also up for reelection this November, although that race is not expected to be competitive.
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race → expect → reelection
Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time.
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clocks → set → time
Not all states observe it - and under the bill, states can opt out of the change if their respective legislatures act to do so before the bill´s enactment.
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legislatures → observe → enactment
Cotton, a member of Republican leadership, reiterated his opposition to permanent daylight saving time in a social media post of his own Saturday afternoon.
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Cotton → reiterate → afternoon
He is not the only GOP senator who opposes the policy, though he has been among the most vocal opponents.
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he → oppose → opponents
It was a remarkable escalation on Trump's part of a longstanding fixation shared by both men - with Trump supporting making daylight saving time permanent, and Cotton vociferously opposed
'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.
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Cotton → share → winter
'Arkansans don´t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I´ll always put Arkansas first.'
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kids → want → Arkansas
Trump, who is spending the day at his northern Virginia golf club before traveling to Ohio later Saturday, promptly fired back.
'
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who → spend → Ohio
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.
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Americans → put → 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.
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percent → favor → it
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.
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it → save → 1942
The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.
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it → pass → 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.
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Trump → include → 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.
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Trump → compete → Arizona
Trump then released Graham´s personal cellphone number.
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Trump → release → number
That prompted a viral video in which the senator dramatically destroyed a series of flip phones.
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senator → prompt → phones
Graham later became a close ally of Trump.
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Graham → become → Trump
In contrast, although they share many of the same policy positions, Trump and Cotton are not known to be close.
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Trump → share → positions
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.
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Trump → advocate → 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.'
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Cotton → overhaul → proposal
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.
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Cotton → defy → intelligence
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.
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director → want → 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.
uncertain
which → have → 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.
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Pulte → order → weeks
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
