It’s funny, just yesterday I was thinking, “What this very strong GOP presidential field needs is a noisy sideshow involving Donald Trump and immigration.”

Per standard media practices, all Republican candidates — especially the credible ones like Rubio and Walker — must now be asked whether they agree that Mexicans are rapists.

“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values,” NBC said in a statement. “Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.”

The network will no longer air the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants that were part of a joint venture with Trump, the statement added.

“The Apprentice” is on hiatus and the network’s already looking around for a new host for “Celebrity Apprentice.” Two easy predictions, then. One: Every hack newspaper in America will feature a “You’re Fired!” headline for this story tomorrow. Two: Not only will Trump pay no price with populists for having long associated with a network as reviled on the right as NBC, he’ll actually get a bump in the polls now that they’ve declared him persona non grata. Everyone wins — NBC gets bouquets from SJWs for cutting him loose, Trump gets to revel in being the media’s new public enemy number one, and the media itself gets a sweet little gotcha to pester the other candidates with this week. The only loser, as usual, is the Republican voter.

Exit question: Odds that Trump will actually be leading the GOP field by the time of the first debate in early August? I’d say 50/50.

Update: Nice Brian Williams reference at the end. Moving those odds now to 60/40.

Trump statement: "Mr. Trump stands by his statements on illegal immigration, which are accurate." pic.twitter.com/IBr1zwAdVP

— Capital Journal (@WSJPolitics) June 29, 2015