President-elect Donald Trump came out on Truth Social demanding an end to Daylight Saving Time on Friday, saying, “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
The issue of Daylight Saving Time and whether the clocks should be fixed permanently comes up yearly and the debate stretches back decades. In fact, the U.S. tried making Daylight Saving Time permanent in the 1970s as an energy-saving policy but reversed it quickly after public backlash.
Many commenters supported Trump's new proposal — but others weren't so sure, and still others were confused whether he really meant to abolish Daylight Saving Time, where the clocks are set for the sun to rise and set later, or abolish Standard Time, where the clocks are set for the sun to rise and set earlier.
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"Just to be clear - we're making DST permanent," wrote Ohio GOP official Matt Dole. "Extra hour of sun at the end of the day permanent. Not dark at 4:30pm permanent. Right? That has to be right."
"Donald Trump comes out strongly against Daylight Saving Time but which direction does he wants to lock the clocks?" wrote GOP communications strategist Emily Miller. "Before now, he wanted Congress to make DST permanent" — which also happens to have legislative backing from key Republicans including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
"Dude what? We want to make Daylight Savings permanent. Not abolish it," wrote businessman Spencer Hakimian. "It’s not even 3:30 PM yet and the sun is already starting to set in NYC because we’re on Standard Time in the winter. We should permanently switch to DST. I’ll easily take a little darker morning in exchange for sunlight until 6:00 PM in the wintertime."
"So today the sunrise here was 7:47 AM," wrote GOP strategist and commentator Sean Trende. "Under permanent DST, it would be 8:47. And Columbus isn't even that far north. No. Just no."
"If this means NO daylight saving time it’s a mistake and will be unpopular," wrote talk radio host Kevin Kietzman. "Most people will want to go to permanent DST. Daylight at end of day is welcome by almost all."