They Want Us Silent: Marcel Reid on Why Democracy Needs Whistleblowers and a Free Press

Whistleblower advocate Marcel Reid joins Lean to the Left to discuss threats to journalism, whistleblower protections, free speech, and democracy in America.

Trump — The Lawbreaker Part 2

Abuse of Power in Practice by Mark M. Bello Last week, in Part I of ‘TRUMP THE LAWBREAKER,’ we discussed the erosion of equal justice in America. In Part II, we’ll discuss what that erosion looks like in real time. Not in theory or law school hypotheticals, but in the daily exercise of presidential power. […]

Trump: The Lawbreaker

Part 1: Equal or Selective Justice? by Mark M. Bello Trump 2.0 and the Collapse of the Rule of Law: Justice for Some, Not All The rule of law promises something simple: The same rules apply to everyone and apply the same way. Not sometimes, not when it is convenient, and not only when the […]

House Judiciary Committee Hearing Morphs Into Committee on Fingers Crossed, Eyes Closed, and Ears CoveredIs Pam Bondi Smarter than a 1st Grader?

Is Pam Bondi Smarter than a 1st Grader? Note: This commentary was first published in Mark M. Bello’s And Justice for All Substack. It is reprinted here with permission. by Mark M. Bello I sat down to watch an important House Judiciary Committee Hearing, and an elementary school playground catfight broke out. While much of the debacle […]

Happy New Year! Bad Policy Has Consequences–And Better Policy is Right There

Part Two: The Fix By Mark M. Bello The most frustrating thing about 2025 wasn’t just the damage—it was how unnecessary the damage was. None of the problems described in yesterday’s Part One required radical ideology to fix. They required competence, balance, and honesty about tradeoffs. What Better Policy Looks Like (Plain English) Economic Stability […]

Bad Policy Has Consequences — And Better Policy is Right There (3-Part Series)

How Government Choices in 2025 Hurt Ordinary Americans — and How Easily We Could do Better by Mark M. Bello Bad outcomes don’t fall from the sky. They’re made—carefully, repeatedly, and often predictably—by policy choices. In 2025, Americans didn’t suffer because the government was “too big” or “too weak,” but because the Trump Administration focused […]

The East Wing: Casualty of Trumpian Vanity

By Mark M. Bello There is little that Donald Trump can do that shocks me. There is even less that Congress can ignore that still surprises. And yet — there it was: the historic East Wing of the White House, the “people’s house,” reduced to rubble so the ex-reality-star-turned-president could erect a 90,000 square-foot ballroom […]

Legal Recourse Despite Trump’s Lies in Wrongful Deportation Case

by Mark M. Bello Despite Trump’s lies, there is legal recourse for wrongfully deported Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador as a result of an administrative error but who apparently is stuck there as the Trump administration says, “tough luck, there’s nothing we can do.” The legal (or “illegal”) hits […]