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Comment by ck2 | Hacker News Reader

btw just for comparison over in the US

Trump has purged dozens of Generals, the head Admiral of the Navy and Coast Guard, head of NSA and Cyber Command and many other top-level officials in the military

and there are only 1,000 women in various special forces (had to pass same physical tests as men) but he is trying to get rid of them all too

Now that is the mark of dictator, agreed

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Trump was elected by the people of the United States. Twice. Soundly. Not a dictator.

Xi was never elected to his position by the people of China.

Being a bad president isn't the same thing as being a dictator.

> Trump was elected by the people of the United States. Twice. Soundly. Not a dictator

Trump is not a dictator, but not because he was elected, but because of our courts and federal system (and theoretically Congress).

Your mistake is to confuse universal suffrage and democracy. Neither of which really exists in the US, btw.

The Commander in Chief of the military, also known as the President, has the authority to fire at will, that is how it works in America for 250 years now.

Guess it works that way in China too...

Right, and everyone else has the right to an opinion on it. The point seemingly being made above is Trump's swingeing cuts seem to be driven more by ideology than administrative efficiency. Xi's dismissal of his top general (which seems to be equivalent to sacking the Secretary of Defense or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff) is perplexing due to the opacity, but it doesn't seem to be indicative of any bigger or broader trend.

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