I Didn’t Vote for Trump But Strongly Oppose His Impeachment

“However, now—after seeing how he has been treated by Democrats since he was elected—he will have my vote in 2020.”

There is a long history of resentment directed towards outliers, from scientists to entrepreneurs to politicians, and perhaps there is a parallel to be found between the story of a 19th century scientific pioneer and the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

Ignaz Semmelweis, the 19th century Hungarian physician, was the onetime embodiment of science being used to save lives. Born in Buda (now Budapest) in 1818, Semmelweis later became a physician and worked in obstetrics in Vienna. At the time, “childbed fever,” as it was known, had one of the highest fatality rates in the ward in which he worked. Semmelweis resolved to tackle the issue and began to take data, bringing an empirical approach to the study of the disease. In time, he would come up with an explanation for the fever and its method of transmission that would later be called “germ theory.” Since—in those days—doctors were unaware of how infections spread, they did not take sterilization measures in between working with different patients or cadavers. However, Semmelweis—in reaction to analyzing data he had collected—developed the idea of applying sanitation steps to midwifery, recommending the medical professionals wash with hot water and chlorine before and after seeing a patient.

However, there was a problem: no one else in the medical community at the time took Semmelweis’ ideas seriously. His colleagues, including fellow doctors and surgeons, even ridiculed him for his conclusions. His colleagues instead believed that infections such as childbed fever were the result of the temperature, the time of year, and various aspects of the environment at a given time. However, Semmelweis, nevertheless, decided to try his method to reduce the high mortality rates found in his wards.