As far as I can tell this is becoming a dangerous line of logic. In Brazil they jailed Bolsonaro while saying he tried to throw an insurrection based off a protest, without real evidence. If we're going to arrest politicians every time their supporters riot the entire democratic caucus would be in jail. imo we should be making these decisions based on what the politician himself does, not what we believe their supporters have done.
They paid because they fear that not caving would be worse for them. Lawsuits aren’t cheap, and it’s a common tactic to sue someone to burden them with the costs of fighting it, thus getting them to shut up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_publ...
In this case, they also have to feat the possibility of legal repercussions in other ways, such as having business deals deliberately stalled or denied in retaliation, something the Trump administration has made very clear is something they are OK with doing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_Jimmy_Kimmel_Liv...!
> based off a protest
You are oversimplifying.