When I was growing up in Claremont, my parents made sure I knew the importance of telling the truth. And if I did tell a lie, I had to own up and apologize to anyone involved. It was good advice about doing the right thing.

In my 43-year career as a journalist, editor and photographer (among other things), nothing is more important than getting the story straight. And if I made a mistake, I would own up to it by publishing a correction and apologizing to the subjects involved. This was expected if I wanted to continue my career in journalism. We demand truth in journalism and we should demand truth from our elected officials.

That’s why I take telling the truth seriously. And that’s exactly why this nation needs to end Mr. Trump’s career as a politician. What’s ironic is our president has not changed a bit. There was hope the position of president would persuade him to be a real voice for the American people. Instead, Trump’s administration is run like a mafia family, leaving ethics and morals at the door, as we see a revolving door of staff in just about every position.

Mr. Trump conned American voters in thinking he was someone else. The thought of a president unencumbered by special interests was intoxicating. Yet he never really believed he would win. At best he joined the political arena to market himself. Unfortunately, the marketing worked and now the world is paying the price.

What has surprised me through all of this, is I really thought American voters and politicians would simply not stand for a president who frequents prostitutes, is openly racist, bullies anyone in his path, is clearly owned by Vladimir Putin—a sworn enemy of the US—shuts down our government over a wall that no one wants, challenges or ignores our constitution and is the origin of fake news on a daily basis. This list continues to grow.

After hearing Michael Cohen testify in front of Congress Wednesday, I could only think, “There goes another Trump minion going to jail for lying and other assorted illegal activities.” The difference is Mr. Cohen was forced to tell the truth, not only to save himself, but to warn Americans about the low character of the man in the Oval Office.

What’s sad is none of Mr. Cohen’s statements were surprising. We have heard others characterize the president in similar ways. But this time it was someone who had proof, gathered over more than a decade of traveling in Trump’s inner circle. Mr. Cohen knew Mr. Trump as well as anyone.

It’s hard to imagine a person who cares only about himself, while being in such a great position to help others. Yet Trump doesn’t. Not because he can’t, but because he doesn’t want to.

When Mr. Trump first took office, I was literally stunned at his consistent lying. For me, it started when he announced more people attended his inauguration than ever before. I remember the pictures comparing crowds at his and Obama’s inaugurations. A third of the people showed up to see Mr. Trump, yet he doubled-down and again lied about the figures.

Since then he has vilified everything and everyone against him, just like he always has. And with a US Senate that only enables him, Mr. Trump has simply become bolder, thinking rules do not apply to him. So I’ll mention this again: Building his wall for a so-called national emergency at the Mexican border is a point-blank attempt to ignore our Constitution and the balance of power. Yet the Senate Republicans look away and ignore the issue as politics as usual.

But we have heard all these things before. Now that more than 50 percent of the American public think the Trump administration is corrupt, hopefully more leaders of our country will say enough is enough!

I truly believe that one day history will set the record straight. We will see evidence Mr. Trump was the most corrupt president in the short history of our country. Until then, it’s going to be a wild ride with a man who cares so little about the people who elected him, he stoops to lying to cover his own missteps.