"Finally he's cooking"— Netizens react as Donald Trump vows to end Daylight Saving time, calls it "inconvenient" and "costly" to the nation

President-elect Donald Trump vowed that his party would try their best to eliminate "inconvenient" and "costly" Daylight Saving Time (DST). On Friday, December 13, 2024, Trump shared on X:

"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."

For the unversed, DST is the practice of setting the clock ahead by an hour in the spring to provide more daylight in the evenings, with the clock reset in the autumn. In the United States, DST starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

After the president-elect's comments, netizens flocked to social media platforms to share their take. The announcement was met with a positive response online, with one X user saying:

"Finally he's cooking!!!!"

A comment reacting to the news (Image via X/@PopCrave)

Many netizens supported the move, stating no one should be against it.

"yknow what he’s kinda real for this," one wrote.

"No one should be against this," another commented.

"I've never met a single person who is a fan of daylight saving time," a person added.

Others pointed out that Trump meant to say he was eliminating Standard Time and keeping DST all year round.

"We need to go to DST all the time, not eliminate it," a user remarked.

"Why are people confusing daylight savings with standard time? You want daylight savings. That’s the extra hour of light. Let’s keep it that way all year," another explained.

"Don't be fooled, this isn't new! The Senate in 2022 PASSED a bill that would have made it daylight savings time forever. The Republican controlled house refused to bring it to the floor for a vote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Protection_Act," one stated.

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Trump taps Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for Department of Government Efficiency, critics of DST

Trump's announcement comes just days after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy suggested that the country should put an end to the DST ritual of changing time twice a year. On December 3, the two entrepreneurs criticized Daylight Saving Time in a series of X posts, with Musk asking to "abolish the annoying time changes!" In response, Ramaswamy called it an "inefficient" practice that could be easily changed.

Both Musk and Ramaswamy have been nominated by Trump to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency when he is sworn in as president.

Daylight Saving Time was introduced to make better use of natural daylight and conserve fuel, especially during the World Wars. According to the Pew Research Center, as reported by BBC, a third of the world's countries observe DST, including most of Europe.

In the US, clocks move forward by an hour (one hour earlier) between March and November. To rectify the loss of an hour, the remaining months have an additional hour (a.k.a. Standard Time). As a result, parts of the country experience earlier sunrises and sunsets (shorter daylight in the evenings). However, it is to be noted that some states within the U.S., like Arizona, do not change their clocks biannually.

Proponents of Standard Time (those wanting ST to apply all year round) claim the cycle closely aligns with the body’s natural circadian rhythm. However, those wanting DST to be permanent claim that longer evenings are better, especially for those commuting from school and work, would reduce crime, conserve energy, and reduce road accidents.

In 2022, a bill advocating for permanent DST (called the Sunshine Protection Act) was passed by the Democrat-controlled Senate but never reached President Joe Biden's desk. The Sunshine Protection Act was drafted by Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is currently Trump's pick for Secretary of State under his upcoming administration.