Like ancient oaks uprooted by tornadoes, some of America’s richest and most powerful institutions have been capitulating to Donald Trump. Law firms, universities, even Supreme Court justices have surrendered to Trump’s most outlandish demands that they cede their governing principles to him and pay financial tribute that runs into hundreds of millions of dollars.

The rationale for some of Trump’s policies—social and economic—are mysterious . But a greater mystery is why these institutions have given in, sometimes without a whisper of defiance.

The capitulation trend has encompassed some American institutions that made their names standing firm against authoritarianism. One is CBS, whose parent, Paramount Global, last month settled a $20-billion Trump lawsuit over the editing of an inte

See Full Page