Fact Check: Did Donald Trump say daylight saving time makes people ‘die faster’?
WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump began his second run as the President of the United States in January 2025, and since then, the POTUS has made several remarks that sparked controversies. Many rumors also spread online and most of them were later debunked.
Recently, a clip of Donald Trump went viral online where the president was heard saying daylight saving time makes people "die faster". But did he actually say this? Let's find out below.
Claim: Audio clip claims Trump said daylight saving time makes people 'die faster'
In March 2025, several social media users spread an audio clip supposedly of Donald Trump saying daylight saving time "has got to go" as people "die faster" when the clocks move forward.
As per the transcript of the audio clip, Trump said, "Daylight savings — it's gotta go, it's gotta go. Imagine you're dying, you're on your deathbed, you only have a little while to live, and they turn the clocks forward. You die faster. Sorry kids, Granny's dead, she lost an hour. It's a disgrace. We've got to stop it, and we're going to stop it."
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The clip initially went viral on TikTok and later was seen on Instagram and Facebook as well. Many internet users seemed to believe the clip was real while others questioned its authenticity.
False: Donald Trump did not make any such comments
The rumor spread in the viral audio clip is false as Donald Trump did not make any such comments about daylight saving time, per Snopes.
Moreover, it was unclear if the audio resulted from artificial intelligence (AI) software or a person skilled at imitating Trump.
The person who created the audio was TikTok user @whmole, who deleted their account. The user posted the clip and claimed it was "leaked Trump audio" from March 9, 2025, but failed to provide any proof.
Furthermore, a simple Google search also did not show results from any reputable news outlet.
Trump describes daylight saving as '50-50 issue'
Several news outlets covered comments made by Trump about daylight saving time on March 6 when he described it as "a 50-50 issue."
Trump said, "It's hard to get excited about it."
"It's something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way," he said.
Daylight saving time results in the sun rising and setting an hour later in the day and has implications for morning and evening activities, as Trump noted, per USA Today.
The president said, "I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark."
In a December 2024 Truth Social post, Trump wrote, "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."
