Michelle Goldberg reflects on the shocking capitulation of American elites to Donald Trump’s second presidency, contrasting their earlier resistance with their current acquiescence. She cites Jacob Weisberg’s book “Profiles in Cowardice” as an inverted counterpart to Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage,” examining figures who compromised despite knowing better. Examples include Mitch McConnell, Megyn Kelly, Stephen Schwarzman, Jeff Bezos, and Brad Karp of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

Karp, once a vocal opponent of Trump’s family separation policy, later agreed to $40 million in pro bono work for the administration after an executive order targeted his firm. Goldberg notes this triggered a “bidding war for submission” among institutions, eroding their civil rights legacies. The piece questions why those who once positioned themselves as bulwarks against Trumpism now remain silent, attributing much of the behavior to intra-elite competition and fear of peers gaining advantage.

Courage and cravenness, she argues, are both contagious.