AP Interview: Clinton says Trump behaving like a demagogue

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton is opening her general election campaign against Donald Trump by accusing him of behaving like a "demagogue," likening his attacks on judges, the media, his opponents and their families to dark moments in world history.

The presumptive Democratic nominee, who declared victory in her race against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, a day after reaching the number of delegates needed to claim the nomination, seemed to wonder during the interview whether Trump's candidacy was little more than an elaborate political stunt.

[...] even as she questioned the sincerity of the real estate mogul's rhetoric, Clinton said voters need to take his words seriously and called them evidence that he is untrustworthy, unqualified and unprepared for the rigors of the White House.

While the two candidates have never been personally close, their political and financial circles have occasionally overlapped over the years — especially during Clinton's time as a senator from New York, Trump's home state.

Clinton and Democrats supporting her campaign are attempting to cast Trump as a ruthless con artist who is tricking voters in the same way he duped prospective students into enrolling into his now-defunct Trump University, a business that offered real estate seminars.

While stopping short of calling Trump a racist for his recent comments about the federal judge overseeing a class-action lawsuit against Trump University, Clinton said her rival has a "very unfortunate and divisive tendency to attack all kind of Americans."

[...] when asked Wednesday about the upcoming Summer Olympics in Brazil, she offered a lengthy assessment of the public health crisis caused by the Zika virus.