Whom does the GOP establishment answer to? Short version. The media.

Your average GOP Senator often has no idea what his or her constituents think, but has a comprehensive understanding of the media narrative, and a great willingness to adopt it.

“It was painful to watch peaceful protesters be subjected to tear gas in order for the president to go across the street to a church that I believe he’s attended only once,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “I thought that the president came across as unsympathetic and as insensitive to the rights of people to peaceful protest.”

“There is a fundamental — a constitutional — right to protest, and I’m against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop,” added Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who also decried rioting and looting. “Every public servant in America should be lowering the temperature.”

And Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said it was “definitely not” right for peaceful protesters, who were gathered around Lafayette Park in front of the White House, to be sprayed with tear gas. And he criticized the president for walking to St. John’s Episcopal Church right before the 7 p.m. curfew, because “everyone knew there were going to be protesters in that area.”

1. There are no peaceful protesters. Anyone participating in protests is participating in a series of violent attacks on America by racist and radical hate groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa. Some protesters may choose not to engage in violence at any given time, but that’s a tactical decision.

2. There are no legitimate protests in D.C. If anyone wants to protest over George Floyd, the right venue for that is MN, that has nothing to do with D.C. or the church in question.

3. It would be nice if Republican Senators who criticise Trump would be half as outraged by the burning of the American flag and the attacks on that church and the White House.