>> When you confer benefits to the people, make sure to do so yourself. But let minions do the dirty work of inflicting punishments because then they, not you,

>> When you confer benefits to the people, make sure to do so yourself. But let minions do the dirty work of inflicting punishments because then they, not you, will be blamed, and you can then gain the people’s favor by cutting off your minions’ heads Totally Stalin's strategy. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov