DES MOINES, Iowa: The flood of calls, texts and emails came swiftly and most with the same message. Dave Millage sat by the fireplace in his living room in a quiet Bettendorf neighborhood as he read them.
He had braced for some blowback ever since he’d told a local reporter what he thought about President Donald Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6. Still, one email stung.
Traitor.”
These were friends I had made over the years in the Republican Party, Millage, a longtime conservative activist in eastern Iowa, said in an Associated Press interview days later. I didnt expect people to be mad at me. I can see being mad at my comments, or disagreeing. But it turned a little personal.
Indeed, years of anti-abortion rights advocacy and devout party organizing didn’t shield the typically understated Iowa Republican from retribution. Within a day of declaring that Trump should be impeached for his role in the deadly Capitol riot, Millage was forced to step down as chair of the Scott County GOP.