Obama casts Trump philosophy as one of ignorance, isolation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama cast Donald Trump's positions on immigration, trade and Muslims as part of an ignorance-and-isolation philosophy that the president says will lead the U.S. down the path of decline.

Obama used his commencement speech Sunday at Rutgers University to tear into the presumptive Republican nominee, without ever mentioning his name.

"In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue," Obama told some 12,000 graduates at the public university in New Jersey.

Obama's rebuke came as Trump closes in on clinching the GOP nomination, raising the prospect that November's election could portend a reversal of Obama's policies and approach to governing.

Trump has barreled his way toward the nomination by emphasizing the profound concerns of Americans who have felt left behind by the modern, global economy, summed up in his ubiquitous campaign slogan of "Make America great again."

[...] he appeared to push back gently on Sanders, whose rallies are packed with young Americans cheering the candidate's calls to uproot an economic system he says is rigged in favor of the extremely rich.