Bromide:
Bromide in literary usage means a phrase, cliché, or platitude that is trite or unoriginal. It can be intended to soothe or placate; it can suggest insincerity or a lack of originality in the speaker. When hypostatized and embodied, in which the concept becomes a person, bromide can mean a commonplace or tiresome person, a bore. [Wikipedia]
Noted in “Belligerents in the Persian Gulf are trying something new: diplomacy,” David Ignatius, WaPo:
The gulf countries are more open to talks with Iran and its proxies partly because they’ve lost some of their former confidence in the United States as a reliable military protector. That’s one cost of President Trump’s erratic policy, in which he alternates tweets about bombing Iran with bromides about meeting with Iranian leaders. Confused gulf countries increasingly are hedging their bets, through diplomacy and greater reliance on Russia and China.
