President Donald Trump on Monday chimed in on daylight saving time, calling on the Senate to end the twice-yearly act of changing clocks before turning to what he described as “ridiculous” excuses for it.
“They say, ‘Well, the clocks automatically change,’ but you don’t know that, so the clock automatically changed, and now you wind it back still further,” said the president at a rally in Corinth, Mississippi.
“So, it’s a terr — it’s a stupid thing. It actually costs a lot of money.”
Of course, some clocks “automatically” spring ahead or fall back an hour when daylight saving time begins or ends (like the time on a cell phone, laptop or smart device), but those are often distinguishable from older appliances and analog clocks that require a manual adjustment.
Elsewhere in his speech, Trump claimed he was once late to a “big meeting” because of the time change, declaring that the practice “drives everyone crazy.”
He also argued that more daylight in the evening could prevent crime, while churches and municipal buildings could avoid the “dangerous” act of using cranes to adjust clocks.
Just ahead of the rally, he used his Truth Social platform to urge the Senate to vote on a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, legislation that passed in the House over the summer.
Critics clowned the president over his comments on X, with Keith Olbermann writing, “It really is amazing that in 80 years this idiot never walked straight into an open manhole cover or something.”
Journalist Robert Lusetich weighed in under a clip of Trump, writing, “The dumbest person in America and the president should be two different people.”