Sunday, October 4, 2026
Trump posts a senator’s phone number. Over clocks.
On Saturday Trump told Arkansans to call Sen. Tom Cotton and posted a number with an Arkansas area code. The AP rang it. Nobody answered and the voicemail was full. Cotton is holding up a bill to make daylight saving time permanent; the House passed it in July. He says Arkansas kids would go to school in the pitch dark.
Twice a year the grown-ups move every clock in the house by one hour. The president wants to stop that and keep the summer clock all year. One senator says no, because then winter mornings would be as dark as bedtime while kids wait for the school bus. They are still arguing, and your clock stays put for now.
Why it worksA six-year-old reasons from what is in front of them, so the script starts at the clock and the dark bus stop and skips the Senate. Cantor found a vivid picture is what frightens this age, so the dark morning is tied to bedtime. Expect “which one do we pick?” Say the grown-ups decide, and which you would keep.
- “Why do we change the clocks?”
- In spring the clocks go forward an hour so the light lasts longer in the evening. In fall they go back. Some grown-ups want to stop switching.
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The House passed a bill in July to keep daylight saving time all year. In the Senate one senator can hold it up, and Tom Cotton of Arkansas is. So Trump posted a phone number for him and told Arkansans to call. Any one player can call a timeout here, and the coach wants the crowd to boo.
Why it worksThis age is working out whether adults use rules fairly, so the script hands them the chain: a bill passes the House, one senator holds it, the president turns the crowd on him. The timeout is the mechanism, a rule any player can use. Expect “is that allowed?” Both halves are. Whether both are fair is the talk.
- “Can one senator really stop a bill?”
- Often, yes. Trump said it himself: in the Senate, it only takes one.
- “Why doesn’t Cotton want it?”
- He says it was tried before and undone over dark winter mornings.
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Is a senator’s cell phone fair game when he blocks a bill you want? Trump posted a number for Tom Cotton and told Arkansans to call it. He did it to Lindsey Graham once; Graham became an ally anyway. Second: only 12% like the clock system we have, a 2025 poll found. Why can one senator keep it?
Why it worksA teenager can hold two true things at once: posting a senator’s phone number is a bully’s move, and the senator is using a rule that lets one person stop a bill. The script gives them Graham and the poll and asks which bothers them more. Kuhn calls argument a practised skill. Expect “would you call?” Answer honestly.
- “Is posting his number fair game?”
- No. He did the same to Lindsey Graham in the 2016 race.
- “Why can one senator block it?”
- One senator can hold a bill up. Trump’s words: it only takes one.
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Based on the headline: Trump posts a senator’s phone number. Over clocks.