Students gather on the front steps of Low Memorial Library, the administration building of Columbia University. Did the university err in making a $221-million deal with Trump? 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...