The senator Tom Cotton, a Republican conservative from Arkansas, is two mornings away from waking up to a horse's head in his bed. His problem: not supporting a legislative proposal to eliminate daylight saving time changes in summer and winter, considering that many farmers and citizens in his state would have too many dark hours in the morning in winter. His foe: the President of the United States. The blackmail: his mobile phone.
Since coming to power 10 years ago, Donald Trump has made it clear that unwavering loyalty to the leader is essential to stay in politics. In recent months, senators or congressmen who dared to criticize him, disagree, not vote for everything he proposed, or simply were not enthusiastic enough in their devotion have been swept away in primary processes instigated by Trump and the MAGA movement. Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), John Cornyn (Texas), or Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Green are the clearest examples in both chambers. He attacked, insulted, humiliated them, and used every tweet, every interview, every rally to go against them. Until they left or were defeated.
However, this Saturday, Trump went a step further by publishing Cotton's phone number, a senator from his own party, urging his millions of followers to call to let him know how important it is for him, and for the golf world, that he changes his vote.
"A message to everyone in Arkansas: Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is blocking a very important bill. It's called the Sunshine Protection Act or the Law to Not Change the Time Twice a Year. For some reason, Tom is stopping the bill and, in the Senate, it's very easy to do now, it only needs one vote! It should be approved by an overwhelming majority, in a bipartisan manner. So, everyone in Arkansas, a state that I love and won three times, the last by 34 points, tell Tom: DO IT!" he wrote. "Almost everyone wants the Sunshine Protection Act to be approved, except Tom Cotton. To the great people of Arkansas, please, let your senator know that it would be a great bipartisan victory for the United States Senate and for the United States itself. Call Tom on his cell phone and let him know," he added by making his friend's number public.
The phone is disconnected and redirects messages, and Cotton's team has not commented on the message and the phone, but several American journalists, who have the senator as a regular guest on their shows, have indicated that it is his personal mobile. Or it was. In any case, even if it hadn't been, it changed little because the threat, the blackmail, is more than evident. Anyone who moves will not only not be in the picture, but anything is possible.
The tactic is unacceptable in politics, but it is not the first time Trump has used it. In 2015, he did the same with Senator Lindsey Graham's phone, then one of his rivals in the primaries to be president. Graham (who passed away a few weeks ago), ironically, would end up being one of Trump's main allies in this second term, and one of the most aggressive with fellow party members who did not fully comply: "It's Donald Trump's party," he told them when they lost those primaries mentioned this year. At his funeral, the current president recalled that and admitted he was wrong.
What is most striking are the reasons he alleges in his message on his social network to want the law at all costs. First, he mentions something decisive for the November elections, in which Democrats have up to a 70% chance of regaining control of the Upper House, according to some recent models: that it is enough for one or two senators from his party to break away to lose votes.
But then, he does not talk about possible benefits or economic savings, energy issues, but about personal preferences and hobbies. "Everyone will appreciate it. No one wants to waste their valuable time running back and forth, setting the clocks back twice a year, and having sunlight in the afternoon is better than in the morning! The PGA TOUR, for example, needs more daylight in the afternoon to finish their tournaments," he said about the professional golf circuit, one of his favorite sports. "Likewise, golfers, tennis players, hunters, and, perhaps most importantly, farmers who want more daylight to play or work," he added, attaching a letter from the PGA's executive director, in favor of the change.