Elon Musk runs a car company, a space-exploration company, a social network, an artificial intelligence company, a neurotechnology company, and a tunneling company. He and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy also run the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a nongovernmental commission set up to make proposals to cut government spending for President-Elect Trump. And in that role, Musk now appears to want to take charge of time itself.
The Washington Post reports that Musk, apparently inspired by an online poll, is on board with ending daylight saving time. It’s an idea that lawmakers on both sides of the US political divide—including Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, US Senator Marco Rubio—have supported, though legislation to do so has stalled.
One potential reason: The US tried permanent daylight saving time beginning in January 1974. It was billed as a national experiment that might save energy, but the experiment quickly went off the rails: The sun didn’t rise until well into the morning, and children who had to leave for school in the dark were injured and even killed by drivers. “It’s time to recognize that we may well have made a mistake,” a US senator said a few weeks after the rollout.
Support for permanent DST fell from 79 percent to 42 percent in three months. It turned out that the only thing less popular than changing the clocks twice a year was not changing them at all. That August, as Watergate consumed Washington, Congress voted to end the experiment.
It remains unclear what authority Musk and Ramaswamy’s commission might have, but the pair does seem to have Trump’s ear, and as the Post reports, the next President has signaled he’s fine with changing to permanent DST. Which could mean that if a future rollout of permanent DST takes place, it’s the names of Musk, Ramaswamy, and Trump that Americans may be muttering as they venture out into the dark on winter mornings.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
