In the first months of Donald Trump’s presidency, long before his much-ballyhooed promises to revamp health care, fix immigration and jump-start a massive infrastructure program had fizzled, I sat down with one of his most loyal Republican supporters.

Betsy Hower of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was no fool. Yes, she was a rock-solid Republican — a former party chairwoman of Adams County, Pennsylvania. And yes, she felt Trump could transform America and even had the personal charisma to “Make America Great Again.”

But she also knew Trump’s personal flaws.

“He’s no choirboy,” she said with all the matter-of-fact assuredness that she also used to describe the rolling beauty of the countryside near her town. “I know that.”

In that simple admission by just one Trump loyalist, you can find the roots of a recurring national dilemma that America once again faces as Trump’s hush money trial concludes in New York City.

We all know Trump’s flaws. But do those flaws matter anymore?

Yes, he’s bombastic and a showman. He makes promises he can’t always keep. He breaks rules — and brags about it. What we learned during the nearly two months of testimony at Trump’s trial in lower Manhattan was hardly a shock to anyone who has followed him. He has a long record of bending truth and morals. As he said in the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording about how he handles women, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

And so, as Hower told me in the spring of 2017, no one should be shocked by Trump’s behavior. America knows that Trump will never be canonized as a saint. And yet, nearly half of American voters say they admire him enough to vote for him again as their president. Indeed, Trump may win the White House again.

Such is the political reality that has made this election year so historic — and so difficult to predict or even understand.

Added now to this perplexing mix are the stream of tawdry revelations from Trump’s trial in New York City.

In the course of testimony, America learned that........

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