Trump just revealed the real reason he wants permanent Daylight Saving Time
On Sunday, in a long, rambling Truth Social post, President Donald Trump revealed the real reason he's been pushing for permanent Daylight Saving Time. Unsurprisingly, it's for the benefit of golf. What's more, in the same post, he doxxed a Republican senator by revealing his personal cell phone number.
"Everybody in Arkansas, [Senator] Tom Cotton (R-AK), a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill," posted the president. "It’s called, 'The Sunshine Protection Act' or, 'We Don’t Want to Change Our Clocks Twice a Year Act.' 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. So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE! It will be appreciated by all. Nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year and, having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning!"
Here Trump tipped his hand, revealing his actual justification for the bill: "The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments. Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work. See letter from Brian Rolapp, CEO of the PGA TOUR below. 65 percent PLUS want more sun in the afternoon, Daylight Saving Time (The way it is now!), but 100 percent don’t want to change their Clocks twice a year. They want to, as they say, 'LOCK THE CLOCK!' Who doesn’t? It’s very expensive for our Nation where you have high and dangerous steeples to reach, like on churches and municipal buildings. Almost everybody wants 'The Sunshine Protection Act' to pass, except for Tom Cotton. To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself. Call Tom on his cellphone..." The president went on to reveal what he asserts is Cotton's actual phone number.
https://www.alternet.org/trump-daylight-savings-golf/Open linkView original on pawb.social
88 replies
I mean I find it annoying. It feels like the time switch leans harder in the direction time is already shifting, making it feel more like a 2 hour switch. So just remembering what a certain time means at a certain point of the year seems to make more intuitive sense.
But if it's gonna benefit golfers at all, I suggest changing blocks 4 times a year, or however many times would make golf impossible. I fucking hate golf and I hate golf enjoyers, because they tend to be old rich white people.
So anytime to make golfers suffer is a win in my book.
Imagine having the power to change a country's clocks permanently while still being a degenerate pedophile. Now that's multi-tasking!
The clocks will replace the "O'Clock" part of every hour with "Hail America".
So one hour after noon would be announced as "One Hail America"
Ok maybe it's not a distraction from the Epstein files just this once.
Aaah who am I kidding of course it is.
Farmers literally don’t care what time it is. They aren’t waiting until 9am to do work their fields, they are going out when they should regardless of the time. No farmer is going to say “damn, sure would be nice to work on my field, but it’s only 5am so I can’t go out yet.”
It was a way to save fuel and coal during WW1. It should have been over turned after the war. It’s not needed any longer
The argument I've always heard isn't that it helps them with their work, but that it helps them with the rest of their life. Since so much of their work has to be done during the day, having more time at night to go to the store and such could potentially be nice.
It's still dumb, but it's slightly less dumb.
That makes no sense. This doesn't change the amount of time in a day (or daylight in a day). They still have to get everything done in the same amount of time. Farmers have always been a red herring for DST.
I think the real problem is that our time zones are too fat. The best modern reason I can find for DST is reducing accidents during typical "rush hour" commuting times. No matter what we choose, one or both "edges" of a time zone will be left doing either the morning or evening commutes in the dark, which significantly increases likelihood of accidents. We usually err on the side of evening commute if there isn't enough daylight for both because we tend to send kids to school around the same time as the morning commutes, and having a bunch of children walking around in the dark while assholes are in a hurry to get to work is a recipe for disaster.
Yet another problem that could be solved by better infrastructure for public transit...
broken clock is right twice a year
Wanting to end the penny (still did it illegally)
This (pending legality)
Such accuracy is unprecedented in the current administration.
I mean, that's why William Willett proposed DST in the first place, so it tracks.
Me
Just start the event earlier you moron. Jesus this guy is thick. I don't like changing the clocks either, but that is the dumbest reason to stop.
And his followers think this means that he's actually lengthening the day to give us more daylight.
Some years back, they extended DST here in New Zealand by about a month each side. It now runs from September to April. I like it better being longer.
Yeah, but narcissists like donnie don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves.
If the big baby donnie has a minor inconvenience, well then, the world should change for the big baby.
Maybe he thinks this changes the amount of time the sun is up?
I considered trying to figure out what he’s thinking to be a tremendous waste of time and effort.
I don’t even know you, but I’m quite certain there’s something better you could be doing with your time and that would make you much happier. That’s not a criticism, just a piece of advice.
I hate to agree with Trump about anything, but events have to be planned around the schedules of prospective attendees. DST exists because it causes most peoples' schedules to be adjusted, and proponents of both abolition and permanence are seeking to do just that.
You think the people that golf or attend golf events at that level don’t change their calendars at will for every little thing?
I couldn't care less about professional golf. Something as simple as an evening or morning walk with a friend depends on other peoples' work schedules. Which time of day you want to take that walk might shape which side of the debate you're on.
I slightly prefer DST, but my main position is no clock changes. Both the spring and fall changes are associated with spikes in car crashes and health emergencies.
I don’t care how you feel about it, I just think the premise that Trump is considerate of other people’s schedules is fucking hilarious
No no no you see it's all about MORE SUNSHINE. Can't you read? Everybody loves more sunshine! Daylight Saving Time is all about SAVING DAYLIGHT! Permanent Daylight Saving Time means Permanent Daylight!
Okay I'm not a good satirist. You know how long I've been using the exact same argument? I'm done with Government-mandated clock manipulation. God put the Sun directly above our heads at noon. Permanent Standard Time is the only righteous policy.
I’ve worked swingshift for over 20 years and trust me when I say it, the switch from daylight savings in the winter and in the springtime is always a struggle for that week afterwards, this would be a welcomed improvement, but I’m not going to give this win to Donny if it even happens at all. I know that this has been an ongoing thing for longer than I can remember actually.
My friend's stepdad died of a heart attack last year 2 days after the time change. I would not be the least bit surprised if that was a part of the cause. Apparently, every time there is a big uptick in heart attacks. Seems like people are dying for no fucking reason.
I don't care why he's doing it, I just want it done.
I don't see anything wrong with giving out Senator's numbers. Do they serve the people or not? Do this more often. Like, constantly.
Direct access to your representative is reserved for those that have bribed them enough. (Corporations and awful people who own corporations).
We need to go to permanent standard time. Just fall back on November 1st and never change the clocks again.
I just want to see everybody on UTC. Timezones are for suckers.
software engineer spotted
this would cause a confusing disparity between clock days and sky days
"tomorrow" would no longer have a clear meaning
How do you think UTC time would help anything?
If I started work at 8am EST now that would be 15 UTC.
Someone in CST now working for the same company, do they start their work at 15 UTC? That would be like them starting work at 7am CST.
What about MST? They should start at 15 UTC which would be 6am MST?
You just have people in MST start at 17 UTC?
You're back to timezones
UTC doesn't mean everyone has to start at the same time, it just means that 15:00 is 15:00 without calculating offsets, DST boundaries, or the international date line.
Im tarded so I still have to look up pst/CST/est every single time.
Utc would be sick. Let's use fucking metric while we're at it. That would be the only acceptable pork for this bill
Divide the day into 100 hours composed of ten (metric)minutes each. One day is one kilominute. An hour is a hectaminute. Centiminutes can stand in for a seconds.
I have no objectives to metric time.
There is actual metric time, it’s ten hours a day IIRC. Ten day “weeks,” ten “months” a year, etc. I think the French tried it briefly after the Revolution.
Might work in space communism, but as long as we're on Earth I think the time system we're all familiar with is probably so strongly ingrained that switching would be difficult and impractical.
Changing units of mass and volume is one thing, but those don't literally permeate every aspect of our daily lives and routines the way time does
Metric Time is the future!
see you at 60 O'Clock!
Now we're talking
Yada yada.
And this is why we still have daylight savings time.
Why?
Trump is an asshole, but we should adopt permanent something. I don't care if it's DST or standard time as long as we stop changing the clocks.
The article notes people in northern states tend to be more opposed to permanent DST. It seems odd to me nobody has seriously proposed splitting time zones north/south, i.e. New York would be on Eastern Standard Time, and Florida would be on Atlantic Standard Time - an hour later, equivalent to Eastern Daylight Time.
Honestly we should just move to a timezoneless universal time. Places in one part of the world could open at 8:00 and close at 18:00 and somewhere on the other side of the world would open from 20:00 to 6:00. No zone change in travel or scheduling meetings would simplify communications and logistics, and you can also ditch this asinine "saving" concept as you'll have decoupled when the sun rises from an arbitrary number.
One big problem with that is changing days in the middle of the day...
You have a global day and you have local euphemisms. "Evening" just becomes "the dark after lunch" instead of "the dark after noon." That's a trivial linguistic adjustment to make to ensure that the thing we actually care about syncing up for convenience is synched up for convenience.
Edit: we already have such euphemisms and ambiguities in English:
For better or worse, the vast majority of people think in terms of local communities, not a global one, so this is still a massive ask. UTC already exists for the industries that need it (and people chronically online enough to have more global than local social connections).
Words have meaning because many people want to use them. I very much doubt people would adopt something like this within the same country much less worldwide. You could be right and that people might actually change but for something so drastic (and cultural even), I'm willing to bet few would bother.
This is how they’ve been doing it in China for awhile now, and it seems… fine
China's using CST/UTC+8 and while there are variations from the west to the east for the time of day, that's only a variation of 5 hours in the worst case. I'm flubbing the stats here a little but essentially your average is going to be within 2 hours of daylight differences which is your variance across seasons anyways.
What was being proposed was something throughout the world where someone's morning could be another's night. That's a huge difference and not at all comparable.
It'd probably be like the attempt by the French Revolutionaries to adopt metric time, nobody would listen and somebody will get shit over it. At best you may be able to get say the federal government to adopt and push it but the end result of that would probably be that one road in Arizona with roadsigns in meters and not miles, but otherwise ignored by the states and non federal individuals and entities.
Why is that a problem? That seems like something the night shift figured out ages ago.
We already have States that have opted out. If they want to opt in to DST that should be up to them IMO.
I'm so with you here. Pick DST or standard whatever will get us to stop changing time. Can always revisit which one we want later ✌️
Lol that would require another time change
Wow. I never thought I’d read something I agree with. Longer evenings are a win. Do it you miserable old rapist, make one positive change in this life.
Idc why he’s doing it, it just needs to get done. The oppressive anticipation of “Fall back” is looming again and I don’t want to do it.
longer evenings are not a win for folks in southern states with sleep and mental health problems. i think it's bonkers that it's still light outside past 8p. here and it seriously messes with me every year, insomnia and deep depression for months. just keep us on standard!
That’s odd. I live in Seattle. In the summer it’s light until 10PM, and most of us think it’s extremely fun
look, all i know is that i feel wildly overstimulated, wired, and unable to rest normally and horrifically depressed at the same time, between may and sept of every year. but it's also frequently 115f and the blinding sun shines directly in my face during my hour drive home.
a little darker a little earlier would be a boon to my mental and physical health. i expect your experience in a very different climate is dissimilar to mine.
Blackout curtains. They’re pretty easy to find these days.
Even when i agree with him i cant read his horseshit posts. And even when it is something good he still only wants it for his own shitass personal benefit. Fuck him and all his voters. I would endure another fifty years of daylight savings to avoid another day of his presidency.
Cluster B doing Cluster B things. Narcissists are the worst of the lot.
I want to fall back but then never spring forward. Spring shift is the worst.
I like being outside in the not dark at 9pm.
I like waking up in the not dark.
I don't give a shit if we go to permanent standard or daylight saving time. I just want to stop the stupid time shifts.
I would think the POTUS in the middle of losing multiple military and economic wars, would have better use of his time.
I think the reality will be a mixed response because it won’t solve the shorter days problems. It’s still going to be fairly miserable weather and shorter days, but less so.
Mornings are already crap when you’re working day shift. Most of my coworkers roll in half asleep and looking for breakfast at work (weird imo, I wake up early enough to do all that before work) and don’t appear to be fully functional before 9am, minus some outliers. I don’t see it impacting that mess much.
The real win for everyone is not having to chase clocks around the house biannually, not getting fully flipped for about 2wks.
In the show Veep, there's a character who goes on a very myopic crusade against daylight saving time
I WANNA PLAY* GOLF BUT I WANNA SLEEP LATE!
There's plenty of golfers out on the greens at the crack of dawn, but it ain't gonna be Fatty.
*cheat at
He's doing it because Canada has already done it
Most of the provinces gave months of prep that this was happening.
Good
wait what? did I miss it while off work or is it really such a meaningless and useless thing that I just didn't notice?
No, its that we're not changing the clocks this coming November.
But instead of rushing it through last minute, BC, for example, announced it March 2nd.
Who still has clocks they need to change and don't have a reason for liking that specific clock? If you like analog clocks I doubt you care about setting it. If you don't, what clock do you still own that needs resetting? I drive old cars so that's one I guess,and the stove. That's it
Stove and microwave have their own clocks with no sync between them, car 'technically' automatically updates but I swear for a week straight after the change it will still display the 'old' time and then flip back once I start driving. I've got a boombox I don't care what the time says on it and a clock radio at my desk which I do care.
But, to your point, even with Standard and Daylight time as it is, I just reset the stove and microwave in about thirty seconds and I'm good the rest of the way. It's really not that important to me. I get up when it's dark and go to bed when it's dark almost any time of the year.
My microwave clock drifts that much that it's useless as a clock
How... how is that possible with a digital clock?
The real reason to stop changing times isn’t because of older clocks, there is real data that shows a spike in accidents and heart attacks after we change the clock
I have a bunch of equipment that I have to support that doesn't support automatic time changes. I tried to talk them into using UTC but maths are too hard.
THATS WHAT UTC IS FOR!!!!
I don't like changing the clocks around and do (since I can't change my work schedule or when yoga class is) like DST better. Like most office jobs, where I work nobody notices if you come in early but if you stay later they think you are doing more than you actually are.
But if we have to change them, it is at least this year on the best day it could possibly be, we get one more hour of Halloween.
And school should start at 9am either way. That whole argument about kids waiting in the dark, because of DST, is because school starts at like 0730, what the fuck? Let the kids sleep until 7 at least.
But if school doesn’t start at 7:30, then the sports teams won’t be able to practice after school!
Schools need to let out later if they want to change anything, the current system is designed for one family member that does not work.
Yeah but academic instruction for 10 hours a day would be wildly unreasonable. If there was a lot more free time built in, sure. Usually there is aftercare here, they have homework time then just play.
The hours are kind of crazy to accommodate the busing. Elementary and high school start really early, middle school does run 9-4.
I live in Western Australia and we abolished daylight savings back in 2009. It has had no discernable difference in my life other than not having to wake up for work too early for a week once per year.
Literally the only downside is forgetting if the eastern states are two or three hours ahead when scheduling anything with someone over east.
A broken clock is right twice per day, even with daylight savings.
DST is mostly because of golf, and that's reason enough we should abolish it.