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Now here is some good news for those of us who shake our heads in disbelief at the extremism of Republican politicians and voters who have become such a danger to our nation’s future.

Make no mistake, that extremism is real and so is the threat it poses to our democracy, to our stability as a nation, and to common decency.

The good news is that there are a few Republican leaders after all who have the courage to push back against the extremism in their own ranks.

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R) is one of them.

It seems some Republican members of the Georgia state house want to fire Fulton County District Attorney because of her indictment of Donald Trump. “America is under attack,” Republican legislator Colton Moore recently wrote on Twitter.  “I’m not going to sit back and watch as radical left prosecutors politically TARGET political opponents. He went on to warn of possible “civil war” if lawmakers don’t strip funding from Willis.

And, of course, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, is also pushing this extremist view. “Fani Willis should be ashamed of herself,” the news story quotes her saying, “and she’s going to lose her job. We’ll make sure of that.”

Jon Burns apparently had enough of this kind of nonsense and democracy threatening behavior. So this week he wrote a letter to the Republican state caucus telling them exactly what he thought of the possible effort to oust Fani Willis: 

“A select few [Republicans] are calling to defund a duly-elected district attorney of this state and her office in an attempt to interfere with the criminal justice system. Regardless of your views of this case, removing this funding would also have the unintended consequence of causing a delay or complete lack of prosecution of other serious offenses like murder, rape, armed robbery, gang prosecution, battery, etc.”

Referring to the threat Hurricane Idalia was posing to his state, he added:

“It is unfortunate some would knowingly suggest such a reckless course of action despite the devastating effects it [hurricane] would have,” then continued, “It is an unfortunate reality of today’s politics that theatrics sometimes garner more attention than genuine human needs like those that will unfold today in south and coastal Georgia.”

His letter ended with these words: “Targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly flaunts the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it.”

Wow! What he said may seem like a small thing, but in today’s poisonous climate I think it is huge.

I say that because a lot of us who read what Republicans are saying and doing believe a pervasive insanity has taken over the party’s leaders and voters.

Every day one or more of them says or does something that illustrates their complete abandonment of any concern for the health and well-being of the nation.

Worse, they seem to have taken hypocrisy to an entirely new level of immorality, claiming to be protecting the rule of law by violating it, just as Trump did (and does now). 

It’s what makes feeling good about the future of America so difficult, but then Jon Burns speaks up.

As Republican Speaker of the Georgia House, he said publicly that enough is enough. He didn’t mumble behind the scenes or tell a few close friends what he thought of the extremists’ desire to go after a district attorney for doing her job.

He told every Republican in the state, and in doing so he told the whole world. 

I don’t know anything about this man, but I do know that what he said matters. Whether or not the Republican Party will or even can end its assault on our democracy remains to be seen.

But Jon Burns calling out Republican extremists gives us some hope.

Republicans who wear MAGA hats and chant “make America great again” don’t actually care about America, nor do they have no clue about what greatness truly means.

But Jon Burns apparently does. His simple, courageous act reassured the rest of us that the political darkness of the moment has not snuffed out all the light there is.

For that reason, we can thank Jon Burns for making our day. It may be only one day, but it’s a day nonetheless. And we can also hope that he has set an example other Republicans will start following. 

If that happens, he will have truly helped to make America great again, just not in the way the extremists he called out want or even understand.