Former FBI director James Comey made an impassioned plea Sunday evening on Twitter, begging Democrats not to move to the “socialist left” because doing so would help Republicans in the midterm elections.

“Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership,” Comey tweeted.

Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership. — James Comey (@Comey) July 22, 2018

Comey was commenting on Democrats’ leftward shift, which began with the so-called “Resistance” to President Donald Trump, and reached a new milestone when “democratic socialist” Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez unseated senior Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley in the New York primary earlier this month.

The Associated Press noted on Saturday: “Democratic socialism surging in Trump era.” It wrote: “[A]s Donald Trump’s presidency stretches into its second year, democratic socialism has become a significant force in Democratic politics. Its rise comes as Democrats debate whether moving too far left will turn off voters.”

Republicans are, as Comey noted, making the most of the Democrats’ stampede to the political extreme. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Breitbart News Saturday last week: “I don’t really refer to it as the Democratic Party anymore. This has become the New Socialist Democratic Party.” He referred specifically to Democrats’ call to “abolish ICE” and end immigration enforcement.

Earlier this month, Comey called on Americans to vote for the Democratic Party this fall:

This Republican Congress has proven incapable of fulfilling the Founders’ design that “Ambition must … counteract ambition.” All who believe in this country’s values must vote for Democrats this fall. Policy differences don’t matter right now. History has its eyes on us. — James Comey (@Comey) July 18, 2018

Comey has admitted that he deliberately triggered the appointment of a Special Counsel after he was fired by President Donald Trump in May when he leaked several memos to the media that documented his conversations with the president. The conduit for the leak was a law professor whom Comey later retained as his attorney — perhaps, some speculated, in an effort to protect their communications retroactively under attorney-client privilege.

Democrats blamed Comey for Hillary Clinton losing the election, after he announced in late October 2016 that the FBI was re-opening the investigation into her e-mails based on information found on former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s laptop during an investigation for exchanging sexual messages with a minor. Since then, Comey has re-invented himself as a leading antagonist to President Trump.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.