Source: Politics<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden continued to add texture Monday to a recent string of criticisms against \u201cMAGA Republicans,\u201d the right-most wing of the party that he\u2019s sought to distinguish from the more moderate, \u201cmainstream\u201d GOP.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be very clear up front: Not every Republican is a MAGA Republican,\u201d Biden said at a Labor Day event in Wisconsin. \u201cNot every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I\u2019ve been able to work with mainstream Republicans in my whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he continued: \u201cThe extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division. But together we can \u2014 and we must \u2014 choose a different path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments came after a series of appearances in recent days, in which the president has campaigned forcefully against the most \u201cextreme\u201d segments of the GOP. In the most pointed remark, he called former President Donald Trump\u2019s philosophy \u201csemi-fascism\u201d<\/a> at an event for Democratic donors late last month.<\/p>\n Biden placed Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican running to keep his seat in Wisconsin\u2019s midterm elections, squarely in the \u201cMAGA\u201d camp.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest contrast between these MAGA Republicans, the extreme right, the Trumpies. \u2026 These MAGA Republicans in Congress are coming for your Social Security,\u201d Biden said, calling out Johnson and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, chair of the Senate Republican campaign committee.<\/p>\n A protester briefly interrupted as Biden spoke about the political “battle for the soul of America,” a phrase the president used last week in reference to perceived threats to democracy from the right.<\/p>\n \u201cLet him go. Everybody\u2019s entitled to being an idiot,” Biden said after security grabbed the protester.<\/p>\n Biden traveled to Milwaukee Laborfest on Monday in what was billed as a Labor Day celebration of \u201cthe dignity of the American worker.\u201d<\/p>\n The holiday also marks the unofficial start of the fall campaign sprint, approaching the midterm election in November. Wisconsin was one of two politically crucial states Biden planned to visit on Monday<\/a>; he was also expected to stop in Pittsburgh later in the day, marking his third visit to Pennsylvania in a week.<\/p>\n In his Milwaukee speech, Biden credited workers for his political wins, from his first Senate election to the most recent presidential election.<\/p>\n \u201cThe middle class built America. Everybody knows that. But unions built the middle class,\u201d Biden said, raising his voice to cheers from the Laborfest audience.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who is running for reelection against a Trump-backed Republican opponent, Tim Michels, helped introduce Biden.<\/p>\n Mandela Barnes, running against Johnson in November, was not at the event. However, he received a shoutout from Biden as the state\u2019s \u201cnext United States senator.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis guy never stops,\u201d Biden said of Johnson in the speech, lamenting the senator\u2019s health care policy position against the Affordable Care Act. \u201cBut guess what. I ain\u2019t stopping, either.\u201d<\/p>\n