Trump is good negotiator. Good cop/bad cop is often used in business as negotiating tactic. For example, your car salesmen supposedly going in back room to argue with boss about the price of your car.
I always hated that. And to make sure they were not listening in to my discussions when they went back to “ask their manager” I would always announce I was going to go to “the other dealer” to buy the car if they rejected it.
I had one car salesman who repeatedly kept telling me what my monthly payments would be whenever I asked him for the price.
I finally told him - give me the price right now or I am leaving. He showed me the paperwork and it was 10% more than we agreed to, so I left... as he was still trying to tell me what the monthly payments were.
He could not get it through his head I was paying cash, so I didn’t care what the monthly payments would be.
And every time I have seen Bolton interviewed since his appointment, he has been very carefully deferential to the policy objectives of Trump. If he truly is playing “bad cop”, I think it is at the direction of Trump . . . . JMHO