The Capitulators vs. the Profiles in Courage

The individuals and institutions who surrendered to Donald Trump's shakedowns will face an ultimate judge: history.
History rewards courage, not capitulation. Look back at other dangerous moments: in the Joe McCarthy era, it was those that stood up to the bully -- Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, journalists Drew Pearson and Edward R. Murrow, lawyer Joseph Welch -- not those who failed to do so. It's the same story with civil rights struggles in the 1950s and 60s. Back to the Civil War Abraham Lincoln is celebrated, while Robert E. Lee suffers.
Today, Trump's "retribution" has nothing to do with principles. He is going after law firms because some partners or ex partners opposed him, in one case they successfully sued Fox News. He's disingenuously playing the antisemitism card in other cases.
Here are those that he bullied -- the capitulators -- and those that stood up, the profiles in courage.
Law firms:
The digital site Above the Law has a spine index measuring which firms capitulated and will do pro bono work at Trump's behest. Included are the senior partners of those firms,
Kirkland Ellis ( Jon Ballis); Latham Watkins ( Richard Trobman); Skadden Arps (Jeremy London):Wilkie Farr (Matthew Feldman/Thomas cerebino) ; Paul Weiss (Brad Karp); Milbank (Scott Edelman); A & O Shearman (Khalid Garousha); Simson Thatcher (Alden Millard); Cadwalder, Wickersham & Taft(Patrick Quinn)

For all their accolades, top of the class at law school, voted best lawyer, they were unbelievably dumb in dealing with a bully, who continually preys on weakness. Trump already is making more demands.
These are the firms that displayed courage and refused to kowtow: Wilmer Hale; Perkins Coie; Jenner & Block; Susman Godfrey.
Representing these firms are Williams & Connolly; Cooley LP, Munger Toiles and Olson and the leading conservative Supreme Court litigator, Paul Clement.
They have the legal firepower with three former Solicitors General, Clement, Don Verrilli and Seth Waxman. I expect they'll win in court but Trump can celebrate the damage he's already inflicted on the big law firms.
Verrilli asked the 100 largest law firms to sign an amicus brief on behalf of the law firms challenging Trump's illicit demands. Only eight signed; of the next 100 largest firms only another eight signed.
Politics.
Scores of Republicans in Congress, who advocated for limited government, are capitulators, quislings as Trump engages in radical interference with private enterprises.
The coward of the year -- the competition is tough -- goes to Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a veteran and a victim of sexual assault. She knew that Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was unqualified with a history of heavy drinking and as a sexual predator. But after pressure and threats from MAGA functionaries, she provided the key vote to confirm him. The Pentagon today is in disarray and Hegseth is a disaster, endangering national security.
Only a few current Republican lawmakers, like Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have shown any courage. It's the ex office holders; former Trump Vice President Mike Pence whose political career and life almost ended because he refused to cheat to help Trump illegally win the 2020 election, will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award on May 4th.
Higher education:
Columbia University capitulated to demands to alter some policies and entire departments to Trump's liking.
In contrast, Harvard showed courage in resisting a chilling list of demands from Trump including on admissions, faculty, tenure, international students. In retaliation, the President has cut off billions of Harvard's federal grants for research on diseases like Cancer and Alzheimers. He's threatening to take away their tax exemption. Harvard is suing Trump over these actions.
Trump charges these elite schools tolerate antisemitism. What hypocrisy. A few years ago he dined at Mar-a-Lago with a Holocaust denier. There was some ugly antisemitism on campuses after the 2023 Israeli-Hamas war started. However, it has been addressed effectively by places like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.
Media:
The worst capitulator was Disney and ABC who gave Trump a financial settlement instead of fighting a frivolous defamation suit. They put potential profits ahead of principle.
A Profile in Courage is Iowa's legendary pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register, fighting Trump's even more ridiculous legal suit based on a flawed Selzer poll. They will win this case as Disney would have.
And the Associated Press, the global news wire, which has refused Trump's demand they refer to the Gulf of America instead of its name, the Gulf of Mexico. As punishment he is limiting the AP's access; other news organizations have been slow to rally to AP's defense.
Business;
The most outrageous capitulators start with Amazon's Jeff Bezos. After years of responsible ownership of the Washington Post, he is trampling on its sterling journalistic legacy. To curry favor with Trump, Amazon has commissioned a documentary on Melania Trump, who's getting a lucrative cut out of it.
Next in line would be Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who has gone full MAGA, deep sixing its important fact-checking program and its diversity commitment, while putting a former Republican operative in charge of the company's policies.
On the courage side, there are dozens of companies that resisted the Administration's demand that they end any diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Among those are Costco, among the first to proclaim their DEI policies worked well, were supported by employees and shareholders and would continue.
Another is Coca-Cola which renewed its commitment to diversity promoting women and employees of color. This is in contrast to rival, Pepsico which buckled to right wing pressure and gutted its diversity team and program.
All these capitulators may profit in the short term. But whether in their eventual obituaries or what their great grandchildren learn, there's a clear legacy: in a time of crisis they were cowards.