On the morning of October 3, 2026, Trump posted on Truth Social a phone number he described as Sen. Tom Cotton's cellphone and urged Arkansans to call it, blaming Cotton for holding up the Sunshine Protection Act, a House-passed bill to make daylight saving time permanent. “Call Tom on his cellphone at,” the post read, followed by a number with an Arkansas area code, “and let him know.” A day earlier Trump had written that the bill was “being held up by Senator Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, for reasons unknown.” Cotton chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Whether the number is Cotton's has not been confirmed: Reuters reported that when it called, the number went to a voicemail box “that did not identify itself as belonging to the senator,” and the AP and CNN reached a full voicemail box. Cotton responded that Congress had tried permanent daylight saving time before and repealed it, adding, “Arkansans don't want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I'll always put Arkansas first.” Trump answered, “TAKE THE WIN TOM, JUST TAKE THE WIN!”
Asked by CNN why he posted the number, Trump declined to answer and repeated his case against changing clocks. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN that Trump put Cotton “at risk of harm,” noting “the ability for China or Russia or some non-state actor to go hack into” the device.
Update (October 5, 2026): A Republican senator criticized the post. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on NBC's Meet the Press on October 4, “I don't think he should have given out Tom's cell phone number. I don't think that's going to help convince Tom,” Politico reported. He also said the president “can go from zero to a-hole in about three seconds.” Cotton had not responded to the posts sharing his number.