Dem
47
GOP
53
No, we don't mean that he has a raft of legislation he wants to get through Congress before the midterms to help the Republicans. And we don't mean that if the war in Iran doesn't end soon, the effects may last for much of the rest of his term. And we don't even mean that the opportunities for grift in the shadows may decrease if Democrats capture one or both chambers of Congress and the subpoenas begin flying. It's actually about the clock itself. Trump has an obsession with making Daylight Saving Time permanent nationally. It is a losing battle and we are surprised he doesn't realize that.
There are three possible positions on DST:
There are arguments for all three and people have been fighting about this for years. The original idea was having long sunny evenings in the summer (which most people like) and also saving some energy because you don't need to turn the lights on if it is light outside. Health professionals prefer standard time all year because it fits people's biological rhythms best and avoids having jet lag twice a year.
The argument for DST all year is that golf courses and retail stores like it because they can make more money when it is light longer in the evening. Sleep researchers hate this idea because people would have to go to work or school in darkness in northern states. For example, in Wisconsin, sunrise is around 7:30 a.m. in late December with standard time and would be 8:30 a.m. with DST. That would mean kids have to go to school when it is dark. Many parents would not like that at all. In contrast, sunrise is around 7:00 a.m. in Miami in late December, so the problem with DST isn't as severe there, since kids leaving home at 8:00 a.m. EDT for an 8:30 a.m. bell would have light on the way to school. To a significant extent, latitude plays a big role here.
Trump has been heavily lobbying members of Congress to make DST all year. The bill is called the "Sunshine Protection Act," which is nonsense, since the amount of sunlight at any given location on any given day is the same, no matter if you set the clock an hour forward or 7 hours backward. The text has been included in the House transportation bill, but can easily be stripped out later in the process, which is likely. In last year's attempt, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) opposed year-round DST because farmers in his state (and other states) don't like it. Cotton said that farmers "might go three, four, even five hours in the morning without seeing the sun." There are many senators from farm states who are probably hearing from their farmers. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) recently said: "I've already heard from people over here who don't like it."
There are enough opponents to the idea that it is sure to fail again, as it has many times in the past. What strikes us as odd is that Trump is fighting very hard for something that is almost certainly a loser. Maybe he thinks he will make a lot of money at his golf courses and that is all he cares about. Or maybe he thinks this fight will distract from Epstein, Iran and affordability. It won't and this seems to us like a strange (and losing) battle to pick now. (V)