good cop–bad cop

“My parents played ‘good cop–bad cop’ for three months when we were planning our wedding. One week my father would be upset that I was marrying a Jew and the next week it would be my mother,” said a Methodist woman whose mother had been trying to orchestrate her wedding from a distance of two thousand miles.

1989, Susan Weidman Schneider, Intermarriage: The Challenge of Living with Differences Between Christians and Jews, Free Press, →ISBN

The PCF and CGT seemed to play good cop–bad cop with with^([sic]) the government—if the PCF’s coalition partners balked at the Communists’ policies, mass action by the CGT remained a trump card.

1991, Robert L. Frost, Alternating Currents: Nationalized Power in France, 1946–1970, page 49

They played good cop–bad cop on him and it worked like a charm, Acuna threatened to throw the book at Archie. Rothmiller said maybe they could go easy if he would help them.

1992, Mike Rothmiller, L.A. Secret Police: Inside the LAPD Elite Spy Network, Pocket Books, →ISBN

If Bill Clinton uses Jimmy Carter to play good cop–bad cop with assorted dictators and manages to minimize bloodshed by doing so, what’s the problem with that?

1994, Time

In regard to the nuclear proliferation problem, South Korea and the United States should work together, playing ‘good cop–bad cop’ roles.

1995, Glenn P. Hastedt, American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, Future, Dushkin Publishing Group, →ISBN