soften up

The royal treatment is a variation on what has become an oft-repeated strategy in which hosts provide lavish receptions to soften up the visiting U.S. president, with the goal of winning relief from U.S. tariffs and lessening the demands that go with them.

“If we froze everything in time, I think you’d say this is a fine labor market, but the direction in which things are pointing suggests a risk that it could soften up further,” Feroli said.

That could be because UnitedHealth did not actually soften up.

“Sunny” was never a family-friendly show, and from what McElhenney and Brunson tease about its FXX-appropriate response to this “Abbott Elementary” entry, don’t expect it to soften up for the under-21 crowd.

Jurors previously heard testimony from two retired Army generals who investigated Abu Ghraib, and both concluded that Stefanowicz had a role in the abuse of detainees, either by directing military police to “soften up” inmates for interrogation, by using dogs to intimidate them, and by other means of mistreatment.