Ed: this post was updated at 1 p.m. to include statement from Trump campaign
Donald Trump's initial stumble out of the starting blocks is already proving to be a costly misstep for the Republican pre-candidate.
Trump tripped over his own nastiness moments after announcing his campaign last week when he barked about Mexican immigrants being rapists who bring drugs and crime to our fair land.
In doing so, Trump, who's never been shy about foisting his loud opinions on the world, immediately marginalized a massive voting bloc of Latino voters and other sane-minded constituents. For Univision, Trump's vitriol was too much to stomach.
"Today the entertainment division of Univision Communications Inc. announced that it is ending the Company’s business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is part-owned by Donald J. Trump, based on his recent, insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants," the company said in a release. "At Univision we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country. We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization."
Univision said its news division will continue to "provide comprehensive coverage of all candidates, including Mr. Trump" during the campaign.
The Spanish-language network, which along with ABC is a parent company of Fusion, declined Fusion's request for additional comment.
The Trump campaign responded to the media company's announcement by issuing a statement accusing Univision of buckling to pressure from the Mexican government to "break their signed and fully effective contract with the Miss Universe Organization."
Trump's campaign thinks The Donald is being targeted for boldly "exposing to the public, and the world, the significant damage that is being done at the southern border, and the terrible and costly trade deals that the United States is incompetently making with Mexico."
Trump, one can safely assume, is referring to the 1994 North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which after more than 20 years of being carefully deconstructed and sharply criticized has now become — in its most overly simplistic form — a central pillar of Trump's campaign.
"These deals are great for Mexico and horrible for the United States," Trump's campaign said. "They are taking our jobs, taking our money and at the same time hurting us at the border with illegals from all over the world freely flowing into our country." The campaign added, a touch patriotically, "Trump cannot be silenced on this very important problem for the United States."
So in summary: NAFTA is awful for the U.S. and great for Mexico, which is why thousands of illegal Americans are emigrating to Mexico in search of jobs, bringing crime and rape with them. Oh wait, just the opposite of that.
Anyway, to further elucidate his campaign message, we turn to The Donald himself to explain his message in 140 characters or less.
Oh, and another thing!
And furthermore:
So there.