DONALD Trump has vowed to ban daylight saving time after a years-long battle to end the annoying tradition.
Americans could finally have a permanent standard time once Trump takes office in January.
The president-elect promised to try his best to make the change on Truth Social on Friday.
Trump mentioned on Truth Social that the Republican party is committed to ending daylight saving time. This time change practice has a loyal following, which, according to him, shouldn’t be discarded.
“Daylight saving time is inconvenient, and very costly to our nation.”
The twice-yearly changing of the clocks has been controversial for decades, even prompting 45 states to try to ban the event in the past 10 years.
DST, which started in 1918, begins on the second Sunday in March each year when clocks jump ahead by one hour.
Clocks then fall back on the first Sunday in November.
This isn’t Trump’s first time bringing up the issue – he also showed his support for a more consistent nationwide schedule five years ago.
“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is OK with me!” Trump tweeted during his presidency on March 11, 2019, one day after Americans lost their hour of sleep.
A permanent time change would mean the US stays on summer hours all year long.
Some states, including Arizona and Hawaii, already go by those rules.
The majority of America observes the annual change, which was first implemented to save energy.
Only Congress can change the DST observance.
Trump joins states like Florida and Tennessee, which have already passed bills calling for a permanent time year-round.
The US Senate also tried to fix the unpopular rule by unanimously passing the Sunshine Protection Act in March 2022, but the changes were stalled.
States that don’t observe DST
The history of daylight saving time can be traced back to 1918. However, some states and territories do not observe the practice, including:
- Arizona
- Hawaii
- American Samoa
- Guam
- The Northern Mariana Islands
- Puerto Rico
- The US Virgin Islands
State lawmakers aren’t the only ones to call for the change.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, who were both tapped to lead Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, showed their support for banning DST just last month.
“Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” Musk wrote on X, which he owns.
Ramaswamy responded, “It’s inefficient & easy to change.”
Donald Trump Jr. chimed in, saying, “Leave it daylight savings time always.”
DAYLIGHT SAVING SCARIES
Banning the clock change would come as great news to over two-thirds of Americans who want to ban DST, according to a YouGov poll.
People dread DST because the change disrupts sleep and productivity, according to a recent survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Talker Research.
Survey results exposed that 40% of people start to feel a sense of dread, which some call the daylight saving scaries, about 11 days before the clocks move forward or fall back.
The tense feeling reportedly doesn’t leave people until about 13 days after the change.
Only about a third of respondents said the sleep trade-off is worth it, which could be because 77% of people said they feel more energized when the sun is out.
