Christian Amato
@christianamato.bsky.social
We are hurling through space
Christianamato.com
Christianamato.com
Donald Trump announced the “Patriot Games.” One young man and one young woman from every state. Four days. May the odds be ever in your favor.
December 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Donald Trump announced the “Patriot Games.” One young man and one young woman from every state. Four days. May the odds be ever in your favor.
The Vanity Fair portraits unsettled people for a reason.
They removed the choreography that usually protects power.
No flattering distance. No softening. No performance to hide behind.
They removed the choreography that usually protects power.
No flattering distance. No softening. No performance to hide behind.
Let Your Face Tell the Story
On power, vanity, and the terror of being seen
open.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
The Vanity Fair portraits unsettled people for a reason.
They removed the choreography that usually protects power.
No flattering distance. No softening. No performance to hide behind.
They removed the choreography that usually protects power.
No flattering distance. No softening. No performance to hide behind.
Calibri is out. Times New Roman is back.
Not because it works better — because it looks like authority. Even fonts aren’t neutral anymore.
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Not because it works better — because it looks like authority. Even fonts aren’t neutral anymore.
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Friday Files: Quiet Tells
On fonts, challengers, culture wars, and who power thinks gets a seat at the table
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Calibri is out. Times New Roman is back.
Not because it works better — because it looks like authority. Even fonts aren’t neutral anymore.
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Not because it works better — because it looks like authority. Even fonts aren’t neutral anymore.
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Algorithms set your prices. Netflix set your movies. Zillow hid the flood.
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Friday Files: Everything Is Fine, Seriously
Zillow hid flood maps, Netflix bought Hollywood, and peace got a rebrand.
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Algorithms set your prices. Netflix set your movies. Zillow hid the flood.
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
This week’s Friday Files is live.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Missiles for traffickers in speedboats.
Mercy for traffickers with sovereign immunity.
A perfect little Curtis Yarvin civics lesson: law is real, but only for the small.
Mercy for traffickers with sovereign immunity.
A perfect little Curtis Yarvin civics lesson: law is real, but only for the small.
December 2, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Missiles for traffickers in speedboats.
Mercy for traffickers with sovereign immunity.
A perfect little Curtis Yarvin civics lesson: law is real, but only for the small.
Mercy for traffickers with sovereign immunity.
A perfect little Curtis Yarvin civics lesson: law is real, but only for the small.
Thanksgiving costs are up nearly 10%, food pantry use is at record highs, and families are shrinking gatherings. At the same time, think tanks are insisting this is the most affordable Thanksgiving on record.
The Friday Files: The Price of Abundance
Thanksgiving costs are up, wages are not, and Black Friday is no longer just a shopping day. It is a referendum on who the economy is actually working for.
open.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Thanksgiving costs are up nearly 10%, food pantry use is at record highs, and families are shrinking gatherings. At the same time, think tanks are insisting this is the most affordable Thanksgiving on record.
Grateful today for the people who show up, tell the truth, make the work worth it, and keep me laughing when the world feels heavy. For community, creativity, good food, and the stubborn hope that better is always possible. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
November 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Grateful today for the people who show up, tell the truth, make the work worth it, and keep me laughing when the world feels heavy. For community, creativity, good food, and the stubborn hope that better is always possible. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
You don’t beat a housing crisis by promoting the people who got rich from it.
November 27, 2025 at 12:12 AM
You don’t beat a housing crisis by promoting the people who got rich from it.
Dropped the first Friday Files.
Trump trying out a friendship arc with Zohran.
The Post doing PR for the Epstein files.
The Fed flying blind.
Lots of powerful people trying way too hard to look calm.
If you want the week summed up without the spin, it’s here.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump trying out a friendship arc with Zohran.
The Post doing PR for the Epstein files.
The Fed flying blind.
Lots of powerful people trying way too hard to look calm.
If you want the week summed up without the spin, it’s here.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Friday Files: The Forecast Calls for Billionaire Sweat
Trump hugged a socialist and hell didn’t freeze over. Instead, the billionaires got nervous.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Dropped the first Friday Files.
Trump trying out a friendship arc with Zohran.
The Post doing PR for the Epstein files.
The Fed flying blind.
Lots of powerful people trying way too hard to look calm.
If you want the week summed up without the spin, it’s here.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump trying out a friendship arc with Zohran.
The Post doing PR for the Epstein files.
The Fed flying blind.
Lots of powerful people trying way too hard to look calm.
If you want the week summed up without the spin, it’s here.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The U.S. isn’t just planning mass deportations.
It’s building the tracking system needed to pull it off; and that system won’t stay in the immigration lane. That’s the part no one wants to talk about.
New essay on Outspoken.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
It’s building the tracking system needed to pull it off; and that system won’t stay in the immigration lane. That’s the part no one wants to talk about.
New essay on Outspoken.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Deportation Machine is the Blueprint for a Surveillance State
America isn’t sliding into authoritarianism, it’s engineering it.
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:24 PM
The U.S. isn’t just planning mass deportations.
It’s building the tracking system needed to pull it off; and that system won’t stay in the immigration lane. That’s the part no one wants to talk about.
New essay on Outspoken.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
It’s building the tracking system needed to pull it off; and that system won’t stay in the immigration lane. That’s the part no one wants to talk about.
New essay on Outspoken.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Kathy Hochul: declares a state of emergency to keep 3 million New Yorkers fed.
Donald Trump: tears down the White House to build a ballroom.
This is America in 2025: breadlines for the people, Big Macs for Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Donald Trump: tears down the White House to build a ballroom.
This is America in 2025: breadlines for the people, Big Macs for Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Kathy Acts While Trump Plays
As millions face hunger, governors step up while Trump builds monuments to himself.
open.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Kathy Hochul: declares a state of emergency to keep 3 million New Yorkers fed.
Donald Trump: tears down the White House to build a ballroom.
This is America in 2025: breadlines for the people, Big Macs for Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Donald Trump: tears down the White House to build a ballroom.
This is America in 2025: breadlines for the people, Big Macs for Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump uses AI to crown himself king and dump waste on protesters. Cuomo used it to smear Mamdani with racist caricatures. Different parties, same contempt. What happens when Democrats copy the GOP’s playbook?
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Sludge and the Spectacle: Trump, Cuomo, and the Age of AI Politics
The rise of AI campaigns shows us what power looks like when truth no longer matters.
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Trump uses AI to crown himself king and dump waste on protesters. Cuomo used it to smear Mamdani with racist caricatures. Different parties, same contempt. What happens when Democrats copy the GOP’s playbook?
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
This is not coincidence. It’s the culture of today’s Republican Party.
October 18, 2025 at 2:41 PM
This is not coincidence. It’s the culture of today’s Republican Party.
Leaked chats say “I love Hitler.”
A swastika pinned inside a GOP office.
Republican leaders brushing it all off.
This is not youth or ruses. It’s who the party is becoming.
The GOP has a Nazi problem.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
A swastika pinned inside a GOP office.
Republican leaders brushing it all off.
This is not youth or ruses. It’s who the party is becoming.
The GOP has a Nazi problem.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Republicans Have a Nazi Problem
What Republicans excuse as ruses and banter is actually their confession.
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Leaked chats say “I love Hitler.”
A swastika pinned inside a GOP office.
Republican leaders brushing it all off.
This is not youth or ruses. It’s who the party is becoming.
The GOP has a Nazi problem.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
A swastika pinned inside a GOP office.
Republican leaders brushing it all off.
This is not youth or ruses. It’s who the party is becoming.
The GOP has a Nazi problem.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
This is what leadership looks like. No political gymnastics. Just a clear message: you don’t back down to a bully who’s trying to dismantle the Constitution. More governors need to follow JB’s lead because silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity.
October 15, 2025 at 4:54 PM
This is what leadership looks like. No political gymnastics. Just a clear message: you don’t back down to a bully who’s trying to dismantle the Constitution. More governors need to follow JB’s lead because silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity.
If antifascists are terrorists, then fascism is the ally of the state. Trump’s order is not law. It’s a confession.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
If Antifascists Are the Enemy, Then Fascism Is the Friend
Declaring antifascists the enemy is not a legal act. It is a political confession.
open.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:53 PM
If antifascists are terrorists, then fascism is the ally of the state. Trump’s order is not law. It’s a confession.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Troops are in Chicago. The government is shut down. Stephen Miller is touting “plenary authority.”
This isn’t theater. It’s an authoritarian stress test.
My new Outspoken essay: why Pritzker’s response could set the model for every blue state Trump targets next.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
This isn’t theater. It’s an authoritarian stress test.
My new Outspoken essay: why Pritzker’s response could set the model for every blue state Trump targets next.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The War at Home
With troops in Chicago and the government in shutdown, Pritzker’s response will set the standard for blue state resistance.
open.substack.com
October 11, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Troops are in Chicago. The government is shut down. Stephen Miller is touting “plenary authority.”
This isn’t theater. It’s an authoritarian stress test.
My new Outspoken essay: why Pritzker’s response could set the model for every blue state Trump targets next.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
This isn’t theater. It’s an authoritarian stress test.
My new Outspoken essay: why Pritzker’s response could set the model for every blue state Trump targets next.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Fascism does not always arrive in polished boots. Sometimes it swaggers in golf pants.
Trump is not testing the waters anymore. He is diving headfirst into authoritarianism, criminalizing dissent, rewriting elections, and daring us to stop him.
Read my essay: open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump is not testing the waters anymore. He is diving headfirst into authoritarianism, criminalizing dissent, rewriting elections, and daring us to stop him.
Read my essay: open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump Isn’t Testing Fascism Anymore. He’s Living It.
The warning signs are over. Trump’s second term is fascism in action. The question now is whether we’ll fight back.
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Fascism does not always arrive in polished boots. Sometimes it swaggers in golf pants.
Trump is not testing the waters anymore. He is diving headfirst into authoritarianism, criminalizing dissent, rewriting elections, and daring us to stop him.
Read my essay: open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump is not testing the waters anymore. He is diving headfirst into authoritarianism, criminalizing dissent, rewriting elections, and daring us to stop him.
Read my essay: open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Charlie Kirk’s shooting shifted the media focus overnight. Suddenly nobody’s talking about the President signing a drawing of a prepubescent girl and gifting it to his longtime buddy, a prolific sex trafficker. So…yeah. That’s a thing.
September 11, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Charlie Kirk’s shooting shifted the media focus overnight. Suddenly nobody’s talking about the President signing a drawing of a prepubescent girl and gifting it to his longtime buddy, a prolific sex trafficker. So…yeah. That’s a thing.
Trumpism isn’t the disease.
It’s the symptom.
The real sickness is a system where rights can be revoked like perks.
Fix that — or this happens again.
It’s the symptom.
The real sickness is a system where rights can be revoked like perks.
Fix that — or this happens again.
The Cult Can’t Outlive the King
Trump built a monarchy, not a movement. If we don’t change the rules, the next strongman is already waiting.
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Trumpism isn’t the disease.
It’s the symptom.
The real sickness is a system where rights can be revoked like perks.
Fix that — or this happens again.
It’s the symptom.
The real sickness is a system where rights can be revoked like perks.
Fix that — or this happens again.
The rise in school shootings long predates today’s trans panic. The right knows it — but targeting a community is easier than tackling guns.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Scapegoats and Guns
0.11% of mass shootings involve trans people. But the GOP wants you to think they’re the threat.
open.substack.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The rise in school shootings long predates today’s trans panic. The right knows it — but targeting a community is easier than tackling guns.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Teachers get $46K. Nurses $68K. ICE supervisors with no degree? $185K. This isn’t dysfunction—it’s design. Welcome to the Age of Enrichment.
August 23, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Teachers get $46K. Nurses $68K. ICE supervisors with no degree? $185K. This isn’t dysfunction—it’s design. Welcome to the Age of Enrichment.
Forget Project 2025. Trump’s real plan? Tariffs on Spirit Halloween. Satire piece here, but honestly, would you even be surprised? 🎃
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Tariff That Stole Halloween
As one economic adviser explained, ‘If we don’t tariff the vampires now, they’ll own us by Christmas.
open.substack.com
August 21, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Forget Project 2025. Trump’s real plan? Tariffs on Spirit Halloween. Satire piece here, but honestly, would you even be surprised? 🎃
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Everyone’s obsessed with Gavin’s social game.
Zohran just rewired the algorithm.
But we’ve seen this before: AOC in 2018. Obama in 2008.
The left is addicted to charisma—but charisma isn’t coalition.
Here’s what we’re getting wrong about power:
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Zohran just rewired the algorithm.
But we’ve seen this before: AOC in 2018. Obama in 2008.
The left is addicted to charisma—but charisma isn’t coalition.
Here’s what we’re getting wrong about power:
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Beyond the Clapback
We’re great at the internet. Are we still good at winning?
open.substack.com
August 19, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Everyone’s obsessed with Gavin’s social game.
Zohran just rewired the algorithm.
But we’ve seen this before: AOC in 2018. Obama in 2008.
The left is addicted to charisma—but charisma isn’t coalition.
Here’s what we’re getting wrong about power:
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Zohran just rewired the algorithm.
But we’ve seen this before: AOC in 2018. Obama in 2008.
The left is addicted to charisma—but charisma isn’t coalition.
Here’s what we’re getting wrong about power:
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Newsom called a special election.
Trump called for purging mail-in ballots.
2026 isn’t just an election. It’s a referendum on whether we still get one.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump called for purging mail-in ballots.
2026 isn’t just an election. It’s a referendum on whether we still get one.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
The Ballot Is the Battlefield
Trump is targeting mail-in ballots, voting machines, and state authority. The ballot itself is under siege.
open.substack.com
August 18, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Newsom called a special election.
Trump called for purging mail-in ballots.
2026 isn’t just an election. It’s a referendum on whether we still get one.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...
Trump called for purging mail-in ballots.
2026 isn’t just an election. It’s a referendum on whether we still get one.
open.substack.com/pub/christia...