Let me remind you up front that, as of late August, this guy was convinced that his main mistake in handling New York’s COVID outbreak was that he didn’t order a mask mandate sooner.

Since New York’s pandemic abated in June he’s been on an extended “victory” tour that’s been monetized at least twice even though:

— the single most notorious policy move by any American official, Trump included, since the virus arrived in this country was Cuomo’s decision to return infected nursing-home patients to their facilities, victimizing an especially vulnerable population;

— his main contribution to the war on coronavirus recently has been spreading vaccine skepticism while toying with the idea of shutting New York City’s schools again even though infections in schools across the country appear to be vanishingly rare;

— New York’s total death toll from COVID stands north of 34,000 people this morning, the highest of any state by leaps and bounds. Texas is a very distant second at 20,000 with California and Florida close behind. All three of those states have larger populations than New York (California is roughly double the size). with the combined death toll in California and Florida only slightly larger than NY’s.

So now here he is, the self-appointed Churchill of the pandemic, dispensing advice on being humble and forthright about one’s errors.

NY Gov. Cuomo: "The key is to be strong and secure enough to admit your mistakes and admit your shortcomings — don't get defensive." pic.twitter.com/cOWDbdSJj4

— The Hill (@thehill) November 16, 2020

“It is results that matter at the end of the day,” he concludes. If that were true, this tool would have been impeached already, not in line for a Biden cabinet position.

But you know what? We deserve Andrew Cuomo, national COVID czar. Maybe Sleepy Joe, seduced by the media myth that Cuomo’s performance on the virus has been impressive or even passable, will make it happen.

He makes one fair point in the clip, though, that “a vaccine will only work if people trust the government enough to take it.” That’s true, but guess what?

That’s quite a reversal in the span of a month, with support rising even before the bombshell news arrived from Pfizer and Moderna that their vaccines appear to be 90+ percent effective. What explains the shift? If you follow the last link and scroll down, you’ll see. Support among Republicans and independents remains flat but there was a big rebound in October among Democrats, presumably because they came to realize that the FDA wasn’t going to rush a vaccine authorization before the election to help Trump’s campaign after all. Relatedly, among people who claim they *won’t* get vaccinated, Democrats are the group most likely to say that it’s because they have concerns about a rushed timeline for approval. Now that Election Day has come and gone, more of them may conclude that the vaccine wasn’t some Trump political ploy after all but a good-faith effort. Combine that with the rosy data from Pfizer and Moderna plus the fact that Trump took a deserved victory lap last week about the success of Operation Warp Speed and we might see bigger pro-vaccine numbers among both parties next month than anyone had hoped for. Especially if the outlook on COVID for the rest of this year turns out be as grim as doctors expect.