If Andrew Cuomo won't resign, he must be impeached

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is reeling under multiple scandals. At time of writing, some six women have accused him of sexual misconduct, including at least one incident of aggressive groping. That comes on top of an investigation from the state's Attorney General Tish James into his administration under-counting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, which Cuomo apparently tried to cover up, and stories from numerous New York figures of him being an abusive, corrupt bully.

Thus far a solid majority of the state's congressional delegation, including both leftists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and previous Cuomo stalwarts like Jerry Nadler, and more than half the members of the New York state legislature (including the leader of the Senate), have called for his resignation.

But Cuomo refuses to do it. In a distinctly Trumpy press conference Friday, Cuomo displayed the classic combination of maudlin self-pity and mule-headed stubbornness of the shameless tyrant under fire. He denied that he had done any of the alleged harassment or groping, said he would not step down, called his critics "reckless and dangerous," and swore that he would not bow to "cancel culture."

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This needs to end. As Rebecca Traister writes in an extensive investigation into Cuomo for New York, in addition to being a bully and alleged sexual harasser, he's also deeply incompetent.

Luckily, the New York legislature can remove him from office through impeachment, in which case Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul would take his place. The process is broadly similar to how it works in Congress, except that state judges are included on the jury in the Senate. Given that Democrats hold large majorities in both the Assembly and the Senate (no thanks to Cuomo), this ought to be easily possible. It seems impeachment is the only way New York will be able to move past Cuomo's appalling misrule.