As I’ve gotten older, I enjoy Daylight Saving Time switches more and more. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also become more of a morning person, and I think morning people benefit from Daylight Saving Time more than night owls. While “Spring Forward” always f–king sucks (pushing our clocks forward one hour every year in March), Fall Back is always awesome. An extra hour in the fall, and pushing the clocks back an hour means that the winter sunrises happen around 7 am. Without “Fall Back,” the sunrise would be an hour later or more. Anyway, Daylight Saving switches have always been controversial and twice a year, every year, there are news stories about whether we should do away with this janky system altogether. In 2022, the Senate even unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, but I always thought that it would probably never get done and it would just be some weird thing that we lived with forever, like the electoral college. Well, Donald Trump is now a believer in getting rid of Daylight Saving Time. How has this become a political issue?
President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office.
“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,” he wrote.
Setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is intended to maximize daylight during summer months, but has long been subject to scrutiny. Daylight saving time was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942.
Lawmakers have occasionally proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the Sunshine Protection Act, had proposed making daylight saving time permanent. The measure was sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department.
“Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said as the Senate voted in favor of the measure.
Health experts have said that lawmakers have it backward and that standard time should be made permanent. Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said that it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology.
Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do, the date that clocks are changed varies, creating a complicated tapestry of changing time differences.
So Trump wants to eliminate Daylight Saving Time which is technically the “Spring Forward” months in the spring and summer, is that correct? I’ll admit that I’ve gone through this so many times, I’ve confused myself. But after Googling and consulting with CB, I think I’ve got it. When they say “end Daylight Saving Time,” that means right now, the “Fall Back” time is the Standard Time which we would keep all year. Which means that the sun would set in the spring and summer at like 7 pm? I can’t believe I’m saying this but… I would be fine with that. Permanent Fall Back Time (Standard Time) is what we should have. We shouldn’t have to Spring Forward, actually.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- United States President-elect Donald J. Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC Featuring: Donald J Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 13 Nov 2024 Credit: Allison Robbert/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President-elect Donald J. Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC Featuring: Donald J Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 13 Nov 2024 Credit: Allison Robbert/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- Welcome ceremony at official reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral after more than five-years of reconstruction work following the April 2019 fire Featuring: President Elect Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Welcome ceremony at official reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral after more than five-years of reconstruction work following the April 2019 fire Featuring: President-elect Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Welcome ceremony at official reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral after more than five-years of reconstruction work following the April 2019 fire Featuring: President-elect Donald Trump Where: Paris, France When: 07 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Usually when people talk about this it’s that we would permanently be on daylight savings time, not the other way around. In the summer months we get light until nearly 10:00pm — there is no way standard time would be better; it’s utterly depressing when it starts to get dark early.
I hate having it dark in the morning. I would much rather have it get dark at 5pm than have it still be dark at 8:30 in the morning.
Same. And honestly I don’t want the sun to be setting at 10PM FFS. We’ll never go to bed at 9PM if that’s the case and my husband works 5:30-5:30 so we need the sleep.
Of course, Trump can’t even get this straight.
I work 1.30-10 pm in winter and (usually) 11.30 am-8 pm in summer and I’d much rather have permanent Daylight Saving Time. It’s lovely in summer to still have a little light and get to see the sunset after work.
Plus, in winter it would allow children a little afterschool outside playtime before dark.
I’m fine with stopping the switch, but each state should get to decide its permanent time zone.
For example, California could (and probably would) vote to continue our March-to-November time year-round, as that is the time we are on 9 months of the year already.
Every state being a different time zone? 4 times zones is confusing enough.
Hawaii’s got its own, Alaska’s got two (one of which it shares with Hawaii), and both Arizona & Hawaii don’t change their clocks one way or the other already. And yes, the confusion would be off the charts!
I wouldn’t mind getting rid of DST and keeping Standard time, which is what we’re in now. Standard time aligns better with our natural rhythms — light mornings help our bodies wake up and dark evenings help us prepare for sleep. Permanent DST would be terrible in the long run. And the days would still be naturally longer during the summers anyway.
AB, Yes, ITA. Switching the d@mn clock leads to accidents, illness, and a dip in productivity. Close to the poles or the equator, it doesn’t make a huge difference in terms of the amount of light. It would be great if more countries followed suit.
My kids are adults now, but that time switch was always so hard for them to adjust to.
Now my dogs have trouble with the mealtime delays. LOL.
Getting rid of daylight saving time is definitely the way to go. While it means the sun will set a bit earlier in the summer, it is far superior to making daylight saving time permanent, which would result in everyone having to go to work/school in the dark during the winter months. Congress actually tried making daylight saving time permanent in 1973, and the result was such a huge public outcry as people experienced the downsides that they reversed course within months.
I think you have it backwards. Daylight Saving Time is the summer extra hour in the evening. Winter is regular time. I prefer regular time.
In Maine, if we didn’t switch to daylight savings time in the summer it would get light here around 3:15 AM. I despise when we “fall back” — the sun currently sets before 4pm. I’m all for springing ahead and staying there.
I had similar issues in the summer when I lived in Wyoming. Wake up before 5am because the sun is up, can’t go to sleep at 10pm because the sun is still up. I personally prefer the later sunrise because of my lupus photosensitivity and I can get more miles done on my morning training runs before I have to worry about UV exposure, but I get why everybody else would hate longer darkness in the morning.
Don’t you only get a few hours of sunlight in some parts of Maine in the winter months? How would that work?
I mean, Maine is far enough east and north that it would be fine in Atlantic time zone. Nova Scotia already is.
It is only an hour difference so I don’t really care which one is picked. I would just like to not have to change. Standard time makes the most sense since it would put us in line with Arizona which doesn’t participate in Daylight Savings.
As a life long Indiana resident, I despise Daylight Savings Time. It’s only good for like a month and then it’s dark in the AM when we wake up and dark by 5 anyway. It’s so hard to get things done after work hours when it’s already pitch black. Nov-March feels like a constant gloom.
Thats standard time.
This is just a distraction from him floating the idea of ending FDIC. That’s what should be the story.
Exactly! It’s all petty distraction while they loot the country.
It would be awesome not to switch. But will it happen? We still don’t use the metric system and can’t switch from paper dollars to coin dollars, even though that’s been tried. Change is hard and changing the habits of millions of people, super hard.
Team “SPRING AHEAD” here. I hate when the sun sets at 4 pm in November on. Utterly depressing.
I am with you. I hate this time of year. I live in the mountains, it gets dark at 4:30 P.M. now which is ridiculous. Super depressing and I’m over it.
Same! This time of year gets so depressing when the sun sets around 4:30 pm. Hate it!
I’m with you. On Standard time from November til March I don’t see daylight from morning until I get home after 4:30 Monday – Friday. My office doesn’t even have windows so I feel like a mole for 4 months. I get so depressed.
Scandinavians are consistently polling among the happiest people in the world. There’s no sunlight after 2pm, 3pm at the latest and only in some locations, for long winters. There are many ways to address seasonal mood drop.
I believe there is a spike in heart attacks and strokes right after the time change, plus the lost productivity. So I support eliminating DST.
Yes. And more accidents. All in the week following time change. I want it to stay on this time, maybe it’ll be the one positive thing we get out of the upcoming slog.
I don’t care what it’s changed to either way, but I lived in a part of the world with no time changes throughout the year and friends, that IS how things are supposed to be. These stupid moronic changes halfway through the year drive me NUTS. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Team Standard Time 💯 here. I actually wrote to my Governor once, pleading to eliminate DST, lol. It takes me a week to adjust; it naturally has more daylight in the summer months; and in the winter it’s too cold and wet to be outside anyway, so why does it matter if it’s dark at 6 pm?
Agree. I’ve written to my Premier (in Canada), too. They wanted us to be aligned with USA for business reasons so I’m keeping my fingers crossed this happens there now and we follow swiftly!
I’m a night owl. While I get the argument about kids waiting for school buses in the dark, and I definitely understand the safety and health concerns related to the time change switch-overs, I wish we could stay on DST permanently. Those of us who need our vitamin D, and the large numbers of people with Seasonal Affective Disorder need all of the time in the sunshine that we can get.
The one thing that I praise George W Bush for is that he extended the dates covered by DST.
Thanks George! MUCH appreciated!
Interesting! I’m a night owl as well, but I like regular time. As I’ve gotten older, sleep is harder no matter what, and I like having it be light earlier.
So, um, yay for Trump? (Did I really just say those words??) I hate changing times and would love for it to be standard any way I can get it.
IKR?! I told my daughter either the world just ended or I’m in some sort of alternate universe, because I actually agreed with Trump, lol.
This is probably the only thing I would ever agree with tRump on.
Agreed. I hate the changing times. I grew up in a country without daylight Sav time and it didn’t affect summer fun or anything else.
I love Daylight Savings Time. I grew up in a state that didn’t switch to DST in the summer, DST is so much better. I love my long summer evenings.
The reason they never change it is people will flip when they realize it means kids waiting for school buses in the dark. One of the things I remember everyone just dealing with as a kid in Europe.
I am one of those weirdos that likes it when it gets dark at 4pm – but i get it does not work for most people with real lives.
I would prefer one set time year-round. I would be cool with DST ending. But it will never happen. Because all the Orange Clown does is talk and never has any follow through.
Exactly! He usually just lies.
What sets “Regular Time” or “Standard Time” in theory, at least, is the sun being at zenith at 12:00 noon. High Noon literally means something! Our bodies respond to this timing, too. I’m all for respecting that, and doing away with Daylight Savings. If this is what President Trump is supporting, I agree.
That’s the only thing I agree with him. I don’t mind doing away with DST.
Here in Oregon and also Washington, we voted to stop changing like Arizona already does. The measure passed but they won’t instill it because California needs to be onboard???
Personally I’m not happy, we voted and decided I don’t care what anyone else does.
That said this is a first I agree with the orange one.
I think they were trying to keep it on permanent Daylight Saving Time. I’d much prefer staying on standard time.
Proof that a broken clock with no functioning braincells and a deep hate for all other clocks can, in fact, be right twice a day.
That’s really what it feels like lol, random coherence coming from a broken, geriatric, Chuckie doll.
Oh God, he’s taking tips from Jonah Ryan from Veep. I’m surprised that he hasn’t started putting the unnecessary “s” at the end of “saving” just too sound extra stupid.
Love the US debate over which is worse, dark at 8 am or dark at 4:30 pm? Meanwhile, in Canada … Why not both? 😭
If we can stop changing the clocks, I’ll take it, but I doubt this menace will do anything whatsoever that’s helpful and doesn’t make him a profit.
I think he’d rather we get all excited about release from the bondage of click changes instead of worrying about abortion bans, vaccine bans, mass deportation, political prosecutions, and rapacious billionaires stripping the country for parts.