WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden dismissed criticisms Monday that he is vilifying Republicans by calling former President Donald Trump's supporters extremists and threats to democracy.

Republicans and some Democrats have accused Biden of fueling divisions for likening Trump's Make America Great Again movement to "semi-fascism."

"I want to be very clear upfront. Not every Republican is a Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I've been able to work with mainstream Republicans my whole career," Biden said in a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee.

"But the extreme-minded Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division, but together we can and we must choose a different path."

Biden said that the United States had been able to overcome challenges, because it has been a "nation of unity, of hope, of optimism, not a nation of division and violence and hatred that is being preached by some others."

Biden last week warned in a prime-time address in Philadelphia that equality and democracy were "under assault" in the United States and singled out Trump by name. Biden accused the former president and his supporters of stoking political violence with their refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

"Donald Trump and the Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," Biden said in his Philadelphia speech.

In his Monday remarks in Wisconsin, Biden referred to some Republicans in Congress as and said they would pursue policies that would undermine the social safety net.

"But here's the point: The biggest contrast from what  Republicans – the extreme right, the – the “” – they want to go to – these Republicans in Congress are coming for your Social Security as well.