Yep. Making an example of an underling in order to scare a big shot into acting civilly is a time-honored “tradition” in China—LONG before the ChiComs. All Chinese know the idiom, “kill the chicken to scare the monkey” (sha chi ching hou [sha ji jing hou, PinYin]
Trump needs to put some leakers behind bar soon. A little jailtime will go a long way.
“kill the chicken to scare the monkey”
I once had 200 layer hens on my farm and they would not lay eggs. I had raised them from chicks and they should have been laying. The feed was correct and I used lights at night to make sure the daylight was sufficient for laying.
I finally decided to chop the heads of two of the chickens for soup. I butchered them on a stump with an ax to chop of heads and feet right outside the chicken house. The next day they all started laying. I’m sure it was coincidence was it was very funny at the time.