At this point, this guy’s just taunting New Yorkers, daring them not to reelect him.

“You’ll never do it, you wusses. Governor for life.”

I can think of two reasons why someone might “care” how a death is categorized. Watch, then read on.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo defends his nursing home orders: "who cares" where people diedhttps://t.co/qtZMegqM7N pic.twitter.com/zJqQBG81vb

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 29, 2021

Reason one: Epidemiological. Scientists need to know where infections originated to the greatest extent possible so that they can gauge the extent of the risk to vulnerable people. If someone who got infected in a nursing home ends up dying in a hospital and consequently isn’t categorized as a “nursing-home death,” health experts may overlook where that infection originated and wrongly conclude that local nursing homes are safer than they really are.

Reason two: Political. The reason New York’s attorney general launched an investigation into this subject is public suspicion that Cuomo’s team was covering up the truth to protect him. His order last March directing nursing homes to readmit infected residents in order to free up hospital beds is the single most notorious government policy of the entire pandemic at the state level. Go figure that his cronies might be grasping for ways to minimize the political damage with creative math.

Janice Dean, whose in-laws died during New York’s horrendous initial wave of COVID last spring, celebrated the AG’s small measure of accountability for Cuomo in an op-ed yesterday:

I’ve personally been attacked by the governor’s spokespeople as have my family and the other brave people that dared to go against this administration. I was told that I wasn’t a credible about anything except the weather and that I was part of a death cult that wouldn’t stop hounding Cuomo or his office. I was warned to “watch my back” and “be careful.” He was too powerful, both revered and feared by those that covered him and worked for him.

Meanwhile, our grieving families continued to watch the mainstream media outlets fawn over him and never ask the questions we so desperately wanted to know: Why did he write that executive order to bring infected patients into nursing homes, and why was he covering up the total number of seniors who died including those who passed away in the hospital?

We never heard the answers. Instead, we watched him promote and celebrate himself, write his leadership book, and win an Emmy Award.

It was infuriating. Frustrating. Soul crushing. And despite all my attempts for accountability, I was starting to believe we might never see the day that this governor and his administration were called to task.

Eleven months after the pandemic began, New York *still* leads the country in deaths from COVID despite California having a population twice as large and having just suffered through a ferocious winter outbreak. I think he’s got a shot at a second Emmy for being able to stare into the camera this morning and wonder with apparent sincerity why anyone would care whether certain metrics were fudged to make his pandemic record less atrocious.

In fact, the “who cares?” thing might not even have been the most tone-deaf moment of this presser:

Cuomo announces New York City restaurants can re-open at 25% on Valentine's Day and dips into Microsoft Paint to make his point. Totally normal bloke pic.twitter.com/muHGkqkpe4

— Graeme Demianyk (@GraemeDemianyk) January 29, 2021

One New York restaurant owner said he felt like shooting himself upon learning that his business would only be allowed to reopen at 25 percent capacity two weeks from now. Meanwhile, Cuomo thinks it’s fodder for a cutesy gag.

Here’s Dean last night on Fox Business relishing a small measure of vindication.