Trump brings more madness to US presidential race

One of the many things Trump owns is the Miss Universe Organization, and each year this organization puts on a beauty pageant. The pageant is broadcast to Spanish-speaking Americans by Univision, an American company that is credited by a leading ratings company as having the largest Spanish-speaking audience in the world. Univision's broadcasts are major money-earners. The pageant is coming up in a matter of days, but Univision says it will not broadcast this year's competition because of Trump's derogatory remarks about people of Latin heritage.

In an official announcement, Univision said it is cutting all ties to Trump's companies in protest. Two of the entertainment stars scheduled to take part in the pageant – Columbian singer J Balvin and Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez – have reportedly cancelled their appearances. Sanchez called Trump's speech a joke but also said it was very sad. The damage might not end there. The woman in charge of the committee that chooses Miss Mexico says she is considering pulling her country out of the competition for Miss Universe.

You might think this would make Trump have second thoughts about being so outrageously insulting, but you'd be wrong. Trump seems to love any attention he can get and hews to the adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Far from backing away from his racist comments in order to salvage the Miss Universe broadcast, The Donald fired back on Twitter, tweeting, "The Mexican gov doesn't want me talking about terrible border situation & horrible trade deals. Forcing Univision to get me to stop – no way!" He then proceeded to send Univision's top executives a letter banning them from the golf course he owns in Miami. This is certainly not a mortal blow to the folks at Univision, but it does generate more media coverage for Trump, which seems to be the obvious point of the game being played here.

Meanwhile, Trump has actually hit the campaign trail with stops in a couple of the smaller states with primaries. He has placed surprisingly well in the polls, although perhaps this isn't surprising, considering that very few of his opponents have bothered to show up.

It's a pity that something as important and serious as the selection of the next president of the richest and most powerful country in the world will be bedeviled by the likes of Donald Trump. He's a successful businessman, and he should probably stick to doing what he does best. As a stand-up comedian, he's a bust as long as he has to rely on tasteless ethnic insults in an attempt to draw attention to himself.

On the other hand, perhaps the presidential race needs a Donald Trump, at least at this early stage. There are potential candidates on the Republican side who don't have much chance of being chosen to lead the party's presidential team, and a few of them make even Trump look presentable. He's good for a few laughs before his inevitable disastrous failure to get the party's nod, assuming he actually files the proper paperwork to formally become a contender. Once the serious campaigning starts, Trump will be gone but certainly not forgotten. For now, the insults continue to fly, and the Democrats are loving every minute of it.

Brad Franklin is a former political reporter, newscaster and federal government employee in Canada. He is a regular columnist for China's English Salon magazine and lives on Vancouver Island.