grammar - Meaning of pattern 「XがXなら、YもYだ」

While reading, I came across this sentence:

「上官が上官なら部下も部下だな」

What does this 「XがXなら、YもYだ」 pattern mean? "Like X, like Y"? "X will be X, and Y will be Y"?

Answer

“XがXならYもYだ” means that X is bad in some sense and it explains that Y is bad in the same way. Therefore 上官が上官なら部下も部下だ can be translated as “like officer, like his subordinate,” but it is only used to mean the similarity in something bad.