Ron DeSantis should’ve stayed missing; Ivanka thinks she can defy subpoenas too

In the news today: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finally made an appearance after two weeks of silence as his state yet again descended into pandemic crisis. His spine, however, remains unaccounted for; Bargain Bin Trump’s only response to the new surge was to claim that none of it is his fault, again disparage pandemic safety measures, and again suggest he doesn’t intend to do a damn thing to keep Americans from dying because … um … The Aristocrats!?

In other news, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 coup attempt now has firsthand testimony as to how Donald Trump responded to the violence—no prizes for correct guesses—and his adult children are now also saying they’ll be defying subpoenas, this time in a New York criminal probe of the family’s business dealings And there doesn’t seem to be anything in the world Sen. Joe Manchin hates more than giving food aid to children.

Hey, here’s a question the political press might want to start asking historians, during this week of New Year’s reflections: Have we reached the point where the nation is simply too corrupt to function? Because there doesn’t seem to be a single national story that doesn’t revolve around a self-absorbed political figure with sketchy finances working to sabotage the public good for murky personal reasons.

Here’s some of what you may have missed: