In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidelines urging Americans to wear facial coverings in public after experts saw the number of asymptomatic carriers unknowingly transmitting the virus that's killed over 200 thousand Americans.
At the time, President Donald Trump said he didn't intend to wear one and it would be weeks before he finally wore one publicly.
Since then, a growing number of Trump's supporters have compared masks to muzzles, falsely claiming their use isn't to slow the spread of the virus, but to test the ability of government officials to impose their will on the American people.
This has only been exacerbated by Trump's repeated skepticism of mask use, despite the guidelines issued by his own officials. This skepticism has been roundly criticized by Democratic lawmakers and Trump's opponent in the presidential election: Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn attempted to paint Democrats as hypocritical with a tweet showing Democratic Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) talking closely without masks.
Cornyn's implication was that the exchange between these Senators, all of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, occurred during the ongoing committee hearings to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court.
The Senator failed to mention that the photo was actually taken in 2018—two years before the highly contagious virus spread throughout the United States.
People were quick to point this out.
Cornyn deleted the tweet and acknowledged its disinformation.
But that didn't stop others from continuing to roast him.
Cornyn is currently fighting to maintain his Senate seat against Democratic opponent MJ Hegar.
