Rieder: The Peacock kicks The Donald to The Curb

Good for NBC.

The network did the right thing Monday when it kicked The Donald to The Curb.

Donald Trump, the noted Republican presidential candidate, loves attention, loves to stir it up, loves to say outrageous things.

But his remarks about immigrants – made, astonishingly, during the launch of his campaign to become the leader of the free world – were truly odious, even by Trump's standards.

The carnival barker who would be president, calling for a wall to safeguard our borders from the unruly hordes, pronounced gravely that Mexico was sending us people who "are bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Not surprisingly, the offensive comments provoked rage. Spanish language TV network Univision said it would no longer air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, owned in part by Trump. A petition circulated by Change.org calling for NBC to end its relationship with Trump had garnered 200,000 signatures by Monday afternoon. Not long afterward, it was Splitsville between The Peacock and The Donald.

No more, the network announced Monday afternoon, would NBC air Miss USA and Miss Universe, joint ventures between NBC and Trump. And it alluded to the fact that Trump had already announced he was stepping down from The Celebrity Apprentice because of his campaign duties.

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

The combative Trump responded as you might expect, threatening a legal battle, calling NBC "weak" and "foolish" and jabbing the network over the recent unpleasantness with embellishing anchor Brian Williams – "they will stand behind lying Brian Williams, but won't stand behind people that tell it like it is, as unpleasant as that may be."

The Change.org petition, written by Guillermo Castañeda Jr., was passionate and powerful. Pointing out that other TV performers had been disciplined for bigoted comments, and noting pointedly that NBC owns Spanish-language network Telemundo, the petition asked why Latinos were being treated as second-class citizens.

"You are supporting a hateful and narcissistic individual without any kind of values, both personal and business wise," Castañeda wrote. "Not only that, but you are supporting a growing trend of bigotry and division in this country."

And the answer, he said, was simple: Cut the cord. Trump, Castañeda wrote, "needs to be shown that his behavior belongs in the past before the civil rights movement. It is time for him and people like him, to join this century and work for this country, not against it."

Amen.

The ugly episode underscores the dilemma Trump poses for the news media. He is a deeply unserious man, and his is a deeply unserious campaign. The GOP field is packed with contenders with substantial records in public life. Some have actual ideas about policy concerns. It will be hard enough giving them appropriate scrutiny, even in the absence of Trump du Soleil.

As I've written before, I would like nothing better than to completely ignore the sideshow that is Trump. But he doesn't make it easy. He knows how to attract attention by thrusting himself into the midst of newsworthy situations. And sometimes, as in this case, his antics have real-life consequences that are impossible to ignore.

And then there are the polls. Last week brought the news that Trump had jumped to No. 2 in New Hampshire, according to a Suffolk University poll. And a Fox poll found the post-announcement bump had catapulted Trump into the second-ranking position overall behind Jeb Bush. Of course, such bumps are frequent, and it's early, and the field is so large that you don't need a huge number to stand out. But still. Whatever that might say about the judgment of the electorate, it makes it harder to pay no attention to the man under the hair.

As for NBC, it hardly has covered itself with glory in its handling of the Brian Williams mess. But parting ways with Trump was the right way to go.