Today's post-truth Republicans aren't operating under the same facts as the rest of us. Because right-wing media allows them to simply ignore truths they find inconvenient and bathe in their own propaganda, they are often totally flummoxed when confronted with the actual facts of the real world.

Rand Paul's (T-KY) appearance on "This Week" provides an excellent illustration of this, when he got into it with Paul Krugman about the supposed rampant increase in government employment under Obama.

ROBERTS: But it is also true that the reason -- one of the reasons that we're seeing this slowdown is that businesses are not sure what is going happen because of this fiscal cliff that we are facing.

KRUGMAN: But who created that cliff?

ROBERTS: And that -- exactly. And that is...

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: ... understand is you are arguing that the government sector is struggling. Are you arguing that there are fewer government employees under Obama than they were under Bush?

KRUGMAN: That's a fact.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: No, the size of both -- of government is enormous under President Obama.

KRUGMAN: If government employment had grown as fast under Obama as it did under Bush, we would have a million-and-a-half more people employed right now, directly.

Krugman later posted this chart on his blog and noted:

I know Republicans know, just know, that government has surged under Obama. But it ain’t so.

Add it to the long list of Things That Republicans Know that are totally wrong.