President Donald Trump's public posting of a Republican senator's personal cell phone number shows he still doesn't get how politics work, according to an analyst.
The 80-year-old president shared Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton's phone number on social media to pressure him in a fight over daylight saving time, and MS NOW's Steve Benen noted that Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy unloaded on Trump, saying he "can go from zero to a-hole in about three seconds."
"I don't think he should have given out Tom's cell phone number," Kennedy told NBC’s “Meet the Press." "I don't think that's going to help convince Tom."
Trump posted the number on Truth Social on Saturday morning, apparently angry that the Arkansas Republican has blocked efforts to fast-track the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent and end the twice-yearly clock change. The bill passed the House in July but has stalled in the Senate.
Hours later, Trump posted again, accusing Cotton of letting his "ego" get in the way of putting "Arkansas first."
When reporters at the White House asked why he had shared the senator's number, Trump argued for the bill instead.
"We want to get away from this ridiculous way and custom of, twice a year, turning your clocks back, turning your clocks forward, being late for dinner, being late for very important meetings. It's ridiculous," Trump said. "Tom Cotton is holding it. He shouldn't be holding it. It's an issue that people want."
Cotton has argued that past attempts to lock in daylight saving time failed and were quickly reversed.
It's not the first time Trump has used this tactic. During his first presidential campaign in 2015, he read out the cellphone number of Lindsey Graham, then a GOP primary rival and one of his harshest critics. In 2020, he went after a Michigan Republican lawmaker who resisted efforts to overturn the election. He posted the wrong number, and a private citizen was flooded with thousands of angry calls and messages.
Benen argued that the episode shows Trump, more than a decade into his political career, "still has no idea how to work with Congress."
"It's not as if a sitting senator with a firm policy position is going to say, 'Well, I was opposed to a bill, but now that Trump doxxed me, I guess I have no choice but to change direction,'" Benen wrote.
"What we’re left with, in other words, is the president picking a pointless fight with an intraparty ally one month before Cotton faces voters on Election Day, which is every bit as foolish as it sounds," he concluded.
