No one has ever accused Sherrod Brown of being the smartest member of the Senate. Given that, it’s not exactly surprising he’d put together this beta-esque, science-denying rant about Rand Paul not wearing a mask. That’s especially true when you consider that mask wearing has been elevated to a religious rite on the left at this point.

Yet, aside from just making fun of Brown, this is newsworthy for a couple of more serious reasons.

In a packed Senate chamber with stenographers and colleagues just feet away from him, @RandPaul refuses to put on a mask – and puts the health of everyone around him at risk.

This isn’t political. WEAR. A. MASK. pic.twitter.com/WJG0xj21Sc

— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) February 5, 2021

Let’s start with the most obvious issue here. Masks simply don’t do much when you study the last year of data. Spread rates skyrocketed after mask mandates went into effect across the country. Even assuming some percentage of non-compliance, we still should have seen a somewhat linear reduction in infections if masks actually worked. I say that as an observation of correlation and evidence, not out of just some political objection to the mandating of masks, though that exists as well. Brown treating masks as anything more than a mostly (if not wholly) ineffective means of mitigation is simply spitting in the face of reality at this point. It’s not mid-summer of 2020. We have enough data now to say that COVID comes in waves no matter how many face diapers you stick on your face.

Regardless, let’s eschew the argument about whether masks even work or not for a minute. Rand Paul has had COVID. He is still within the period where science says he has anti-bodies. Further, Sherrod Brown and the other members of the Senate in that video have been vaccinated. In other words, the situation being presented here is exactly what will exist for everyone in the country once vaccinations are complete. In that video, we have a situation where someone has had COVID and the people he’s around have received the vaccine. There’s simply no risk real risk involved for anyone, at least not past what is simply unavoidable going forward from here unto eternity.

Why is all this important? Because it’s a preview of exactly what Democrats plan to do post-vaccination. They don’t want you getting back to normal. They don’t want to relinquish their power. Even when the science says we’ve reached the end of possible mitigation (i.e. vaccinating the country), Democrats and their media allies will still be preaching the gospel of masks because it’s a political wedge for them.

Anyway, try to imagine being a 68-year-old man like Brown and crying on the Senate floor about a colleague not wearing a piece of cloth on his face when there’s not even any scientific reason to do so. It’s pathetic, and it’s nakedly political.