Fired FBI director and faux "resistance hero" James Comey was widely ridiculed for using Twitter on Sunday to beg Democrats to not "lose your minds and rush to the socialist left," as democratic socialist and bold progressive political candidates are garnering public support by pushing popular policies like Medicare for All in spite of sabotage efforts by the party's corporate wing and donors.

The backlash was immediate, with several critics pointing to the popularity of proposals such as tuition-free public college, a living wage, and a transition to renewable energy.

The "sensible, balanced, ethical" position is: Health care for all

Free college for all

Good wages for al

A livable planet for all

⚖️ Justice for all

Getting big corporate, money out of politics

An America for all, not the few https://t.co/LdSS3e9yyJ — Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) July 22, 2018 What do we mean by “the socialist left” (Comey’s scaremongering phrase) apart from the goal of a health care system like those in the rest of the rich world, and a few things America used to have, like cheap public higher education and higher taxes for rich people? — Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) July 23, 2018

Journalists David Sirota and Rania Khalek, meanwhile, pointed to Comey's history working for a hedge fund.

This tweet deriding socialism is a good reminder that just before becoming FBI director, James Comey worked at Bridgewater -- the world's largest hedge fund https://t.co/vPTOwIECQg https://t.co/g3FYWmLmbZ — David Sirota (@davidsirota) July 22, 2018 After working at a hedge fund Lockheed Martin, James Comey has a net worth of $15 million. What is it with rich people wanting to deny the rest of us access to education and healthcare and other basic things developed countries provide their citizens? https://t.co/fwvv9ZA4qP https://t.co/1YEaRo62TN — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) July 23, 2018

Noting that Comey's estimated net worth is somewhere north of $15 million, The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald, in a series of tweets, derided the Democratic Party as "failed and collapsed," and sarcastically remarked, "Just have the Party shape itself in his image and voters will return in droves."

Comey/Kristol 2020! The only thing more darkly hilarious than these two believing that they should be guiding the Democratic Party is how many Democrats also believe this. Comey's banal "centrism" decree, from a warmed-over 1994 New Republic column, has 15K re-tweets already. pic.twitter.com/anh3wMcOxC — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 23, 2018

Some challenged Comey's clear implication that democratic socialists are incapable of "ethical leadership."

(comey's tweet assumes that a "socialist left" ipso facto cannot be "sensible, balanced, ethical") SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Never Miss a Beat. Get our best delivered to your inbox.





— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) July 22, 2018 There's a strong implication you're making here about the "socialist left" that I'm not sure is either accurate or warranted. https://t.co/BsSzPxjcHx — Jeffrey Vagle (@jvagle) July 22, 2018 Hey Jimmy, We talkin' about the same sensible, balanced, ethical leadership that eroded our trust in gov't, stole from the poor & middle-class to make the rich even wealthier, and helped to deliver Trump? Just askin' for about 320 million Americans. BTW, can you spell hypocrisy? — Bill Cimbrelo (@Bill_Cimbrelo) July 22, 2018

Others pointed to Comey's decision to send a letter to Congress about investigating more of Hillary Clinton's emails just days before the 2016 presidential election, and urged him to stay out of politics.