Iowa Press show instructions this week seemed to be, say something to make it look like Republicans, Kim Reynolds in particular, caused the good things that are happening with welcoming Afghan refugees to Iowa.

Henderson: As the U.S. airlift accelerated this summer to get Afghan allies in that country out, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst said it was time for Iowa to step forward and welcome some of those refugees to resettle in Iowa. Governor Kim Reynolds joined that conversation and now we have a lot of different organizations and people on the ground in Iowa leading that effort.

This edition of Iowa Press was informative thanks to the two knowledgeable guests, Mak Suceska, Bureau Chief of of Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services; and Kerri True-Funk Director of the Des Moines field office of the U.S.  Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

For this week at least there was no snide dissing of Democrats or fawning over Republicans to suffer through. There were neutral questions being politely asked of two competent individuals sharing information useful for the public to know and a story Iowans can feel positive about.  So that’s good.

But Reynolds’ enthusiasm for welcoming refugees to Iowa has been shall we say mixed? Iowa Governor Says Housing Migrant Kids Not Our Problem “This is not our problem,” Reynolds said.  Reynolds doesn’t care about people dying from covid, she doesn’t care about refugee children and if she cares about Afghan refugees it’s only because she sees political benefit.

Given the Republicans’ poor track record on immigrants and refugees, for the show moderator to imply directly or indirectly that the outstanding work being described by these two guests happened because of Kim Reynolds and Joni Ernst is laughable.

This is another example of the primary goal of the show seeming to be to project Republicans in a positive light.