The question keeps recurring whenever I hear Donald J. Trump blather something nonsensical, such as what he said during his Fourth of July speech intended to offer a “Salute to America.”

How in the world do the millions of Trumpkins out there continue to support this guy?

I am left to sigh in disbelief.

The president muttered something about the revolutionary soldiers “ramming the ramparts” and “taking the airports” in, um, 1775 … or about 128 years before the first airplane took flight in North Carolina. Then the president who said while campaigning for office in 2016 that he doesn’t use Teleprompters blamed the ignorant ranting on a malfunctioning Teleprompter. Go … figure, man!

That kind of idiocy doesn’t matter to the president’s allies. They stand behind him. They cheer him when he lashes out at “fake news” media outlets.

Of course, that latest example is actually timid and tame compared to the myriad other examples of utterly disgraceful comments and behavior that this man has exhibited since becoming president and in the years immediately preceding his entry into the political world.

It utterly astounds me at every level I can imagine.

His lying is incessant. His utter lack of understanding of constitutional principles is confounding beyond measure. Trump promises to make the best deals imaginable and then backs down. He has vowed to appoint the “best people” to populate his administration, but then cannot — or will not — fill key vacancies.

He demonstrates repeatedly an unwillingness to refrain from making policy via Twitter.

Trump insults his foes. He denigrates his intelligence agencies. Trump cozies up to tyrants, killers and despots. He castigates allies.

Through it all, he maintains that chokehold on his political base.

What in the name of a once-noble political craft has happened to this country? I still am baffled at how this guy got elected in the first place and how in the world his base continues to stand with him.

Ugh!