Massie’s comment came to mind again today when I saw the news that Sen. Paul has been temporarily suspended from YouTube for a video in which he said “most of the masks you can get over the counter don’t work because the virus particles are too small and go right through them.” (You can see the video here; begin at 3:20 for the relevant part.) In a follow-up video protesting the suspension, Paul commented further. “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work, they don’t prevent infection,” he said. “Saying cloth masks work when they don’t actually risks lives, as someone may choose to care for a loved one with COVID while only wearing a cloth mask. This is not only bad advice but also potentially deadly information.”

I’m probably closer on policy to Paul than most members of Congress — I once interviewed him for The Week — but this strikes me as courting the craziest SOB vote. Everything he’s saying is true, yet in a deeply misleading way. Of course, viruses are much smaller than holes in the weave of cloth or surgical masks. The point isn’t to catch individual viruses; it’s to catch far larger drops of virus-laden spittle. Yes, these masks are comparatively ineffective for protecting their wearer. Catching spittle protects other people. And yeah, if you’re unvaccinated and caring for someone with an active COVID-19 infection, a cloth mask isn’t enough. Did anyone credible say it was? You should get something like an N95 respirator, which keeps nearly all viruses out instead of simply keeping your spittle in.

Paul technically didn’t lie, but I think he did court this voting base. Massie does it, too. The libertarian position, for example, is that freedom of association allows employers to condition employment on vaccination if they so choose. But Massie recently touted a Kentucky statehouse “bill to prohibit employers from requiring the vax.” And where he used to pal around with the likes of former Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.), now he’s buddy-buddy with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), she of the QAnon ties, bad Holocaust analogy, and big craziest SOB vibes.