Louisiana Senator John Kennedy struggled to explain why President Donald Trump decided to dox a Republican colleague.
While discussing the president’s ludicrous move to publicly post Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number on Truth Social, Kennedy, 74, said on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday that Trump, 80, “exists loudly” and can be “tempestuous.”
“He can go from zero to a-hole in about three seconds,” Kennedy told host Kristen Welker about Trump. “I don’t think he should have given out Tom’s cellphone number. I don’t think that’s going to help convince Tom.”
In a 315-word Truth Social temper tantrum on Saturday, Trump urged Arkansans to call Cotton, whom he called “a friend of mine,” on his personal cellphone about his refusal to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent.
“Call Tom on his cellphone,” Trump wrote, including the GOP senator’s phone number. “Tell Tom to, GET IT DONE! It will be appreciated by all.”
Cotton’s phone was inundated with calls to the point that the Daily Beast couldn’t leave a voicemail when a reporter reached out for comment on Saturday.
The bill, which passed in the House in July but has since stalled in the Senate, has become one of the president’s latest fixations.
“Republicans in the Senate have to get moving on what I call the ‘No More Changing of Clocks Act,’ officially known as The Sunshine Protection Act, a ridiculous Clock changing process that takes place twice a year, costs our Country a fortune, is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
Trump has described the issue as a “very huge WIN” for the GOP ahead of next month’s midterm elections, which bode poorly for Republicans thanks to the president’s abysmal approval rating influenced by his costly war with Iran.
However, Cotton has made his stance on the subject quite clear, saying last year that the move would “make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans.”
“Every now and then, there are disputes in Congress that have existential significance for the future of Western civilization,” Kennedy said. “Daylight saving time is not one of them.”
