Yet again, we as Iowa students are subjected to political machinations at the national level from visitors. The most recent individual to do this is former vice president Mike Pence. He gave the usual spiel of conservative rhetoric which I feel I must do my part and, if not debunk, then at least give an alternative viewpoint to.

One of the most notable and egregious series of statements Pence made was about COVID-19.

Pence celebrated former President Donald Trump’s efforts battling COVID-19 and mentioned the fact that under his administration, the three coronavirus vaccines were created.

While the president put money toward vaccine development and cut red tape, vaccines were already in development through a myriad of other international agencies. Without Trump, all of them probably would have been made regardless and within the same timetable.

In addition, a panel from the university of Harvard’s Center for Health and Human Rights Came to the conclusion that up to 40 percent of coronavirus deaths could have been avoided had Trump altered his policies.

Though to be honest, it’s not surprising that Pence would either ignore or not care about the deaths that were a direct result of Trump’s policies. After all, he said that he looks up to the former President Ronald Reagan.

This being Reagan who, among other things, oversaw one of the worst epidemics in America and did nothing to stop it or, in some cases, made the situation worse.

Downplaying the virus, ignoring warnings, doing very little-policy wise to address the situation — the similarities are astounding.

And from there, Pence then referred to the greatest culture war issue Americans are facing this year — critical race theory.

The critical race theory that no one seems to be able to give concrete examples of, like Tucker Carlson, who recently admitted he doesn’t even understand what critical race theory is.

For any of those who are unaware, critical race theory is a type of legal analysis that exists in upper-level legal schools and is not in fact being taught to kids in K-12 in the slightest.

Critical race theory is actually stuff like Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. At least, that’s what it is according to Texan Republicans who attempted to ban critical race theory some time ago.

The last major thing of note was the only real policy that Pence talked about — people getting unemployment benefits. You know, the thing that politicians are meant to focus on.

Specifically, Pence said the Biden administration’s unemployment benefits were preventing people from getting back to work and not jump starting the economy fast enough.

But unsurprisingly enough, studies are showing that cutting unemployment benefits doesn’t get people back to work.

Kicking people off support that they need while we are still in the middle of a pandemic will not get them back to work. It will only make their lives worse, for no benefit to anyone whatsoever.

It just goes to show that Republicans, even when they’re touring and attempting to get their party fired up, don’t always offer anything of substance or value that will help people’s lives in any fashion.

All they can do is gesticulate wildly at the opposition and make wild claims about critical race theory, Marxism, and how big government is going to destroy your life. All the while, the Democrats are attempting in some capacity to do something for the people.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.