Both absolutely true, AND they live in a world where a lot of money is being paid paid to attack them. It's like elections in a corrupt country: on paper you may even have fair voting, but in practice there will be constant attempts at sabotage.
They live in a harsh world. Personally, I forgive them their paranoia. A huge chunk of security+freedom on mobile currently stands on their shoulders, and on PinePhone / Librem5.