That term is “MAGA Republicans,” which Biden embroidered with “extreme” but, significantly, not “Donald Trump.” The distinction reflects polling and analysis by Biden allies designed to identify the most effective arguments for Democrats in trying to fend off a crippling Republican blow in November’s elections.

“It’s very clear that the Democratic Party hasn’t had a coherent story to tell about the Republican Party and what’s happened to it,” says Anita Dunn, a top Biden adviser who participated in the research and soon will rejoin the White House staff. “I don’t think we were looking for this particular message, but it found us.”…

The extremism framework encompasses the call by veteran Democratic strategist James Carville to highlight “out-and-out weird” Republicans such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina. Dunn says Democrats intend to “make them even better known than they’ve already made themselves.”

By directing attacks at “MAGA Republicans,” Biden leaves space for cooperation with more traditional GOP lawmakers. One of them, Ohio’s retiring Sen. Rob Portman, joined the President at a metals plant here as he touted a pending bill investing billions in semiconductor manufacturing. But raising the partisan temperature risks complicating negotiations.