Branding, Birds, and Joshua Trees: acitrano.beehiiv.com/p/branding-b...

Today seems like a “good” day for a re-do of my 2017 nuclear football thread. Jokes about Trump and the nuclear codes are well-worn. But most people don’t realize how it all actually works, so I’m going to explain. Warning: you will find this thread distressing.

“strongly and powerfully” TACO by proxy.

Art of the Deal

Today seems like a “good” day for a re-do of my 2017 nuclear football thread. Jokes about Trump and the nuclear codes are well-worn. But most people don’t realize how it all actually works, so I’m going to explain. Warning: you will find this thread distressing.

I made a thing to help you feel poor: theplutoproject.org/compare Enjoy!

“Constitutional law [is predicated on] the assumption that those who occupy public office will subordinate self-interest to larger obligations of service. It does not compel compliance so much as it presupposes it. Against a bad man, it has no obvious recourse.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/o...

Trump keeps saying affordability is a “made-up word”, blissfully unaware that every word is a made-up word.

I realize it’s extremely unlikely, but imagine this scenario: Trump endorses Cornyn, but Paxton marches on and beats Cornyn anyway. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

I made a thing to help you feel poor: theplutoproject.org/compare Enjoy!

“We get paid to give advice - especially when it's unwelcome. That's why generals cost more than soldiers.” I wrote a thing about what loyalty actually means in leadership and communications. citrano.com/principal-vs... #communications #leadership

“Little seems to keep Carlson awake, except for the demon that lives in his home and, according to Carlson, has physically attacked him on several occasions in the wee small hours.” www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...

In light of the #Crypto crash now underway, the only safe haven is my old Trump memecoin. It's worthless and you definitely shouldn't buy any. But many people are saying, with tears in their eyes, “Sir, it's the best rugpull ever” and you can upset the President with a just few $$. #$BTC #bitcoin

in for 20

I wrote a thing about what I call “principled transparency” in communications - how organizations can maintain boundaries while simultaneously building trust and brand equity. Alternately titled “Never Lie, Always Comment”: citrano.com/signal-detec...

As if “Trump” and “class” belong in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence. www.axios.com/2025/12/22/t...

The only truly new information we're getting from the Epstein emails is the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was functionally illiterate. I get some pretty poorly-crafted emails, but I've never seen anything like this. And this dude taught at Dalton?

Take this quiz to die instantly www.americansurveycenter.org/quiz/

Sunday reading: I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves. This week’s piece:

“Historians sometimes say that when societies are descending into fascism, it can be hard for the people to notice it in real time. Well, historians of the future, I’m here to tell you: We are noticing. Millions of us are noticing. And we are horrified and enraged.” newrepublic.com/post/201625/...

“In effect, Mr. Trump’s position is that Democrats must either support his plans to slash important public services, or else he will slash important public services.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Next time you hear someone cite an #Al model as a source, show them this — research from #openai on the accuracy and hallucination rate of its most popular #chatgpt models. LLMs are powerful tools, but a tool is only helpful if you know what it can — and cannot— do. #gpt #Ilm #chatbot

Why, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, do fully-grown “professionals” still not know how to properly craft a basic calendar invite? You seriously gonna send me a calendar invitation for “Call with Anthony Citrano”? 🤦🏻‍♂️

Hannah Arendt said 'The death of human empathy is one of the earliest & most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism' We saw the recent cruelty of MAGA denying empathy to Melissa Hortman Empathy for Kirk—not because he ever acted like a decent human—but because we are decent humans

I think one thing chatGPT's invention has revealed is how many people - including some very important people in society - find just basic reading and writing to be laborious and cumbersome to perform, and how oddly closely that type of strained literacy correlates with having other shitty opinions.

📌Consider where we are in our nation's history: European prime ministers and presidents are urgently flying into the United States to oppose the actions of its unstable authoritarian leader.

Out of the blue, Trump called the Norwegian finance minister to ask when he would get the Nobel prize suggesting he would impose tariffs if he did not www.dn.no/politikk/fre...

From Orwell's “In Front of Your Nose”. www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...

“[W]hat were only a few years ago obviously impeachable offenses are now simply known as the Trump administration.” open.substack.com/pub/andrewsu...

Over on the x-bird site, this on the Trump and Putin meeting from @juliaioffe.bsky.social and @mcfaulmike.bsky.social.

Motherfucking wind farms…

Next up: “this is the well-established responsibility of the junior senator from Illinois, and has been for generations”

I feel like this tidbit from @carolleonnig.bsky.social's excellent reporting on #ButlerPA is being overlooked by the #cryptography community. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio... #encryption

I feel like this tidbit from @carolleonnig.bsky.social's excellent reporting on #ButlerPA is being overlooked by the #cryptography community. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio... #encryption

I do think it’s interesting that the White House’s official position is that God killed a volunteer fireman in front of his family

This is not only correct, but it's my favorite kind of correct.

"ICE is arresting people based on accent" is an absolutely wild sentence to read

Immigration raid at cannabis farm leads to chaos, one farmworker reportedly suffers grave injuries -- archive.is/MBd7j#select... via LATimes www.latimes.com/california/s...

if Trump were actively trying to impoverish and deskill the united states for the sake of our competitors, what would he be doing differently?

Why do people keep referring to Elon Musk's new political party as a “third” party? There are countless political parties - what's “third” about it?

Today we celebrate the 249th anniversary of declaring our independence from the arbitrary, capricious rule of a mercurial autocrat.

I have finally had the opportunity to sample the new Trump cologne. It's brilliant. It opens with powerful top notes of Sharpie fumes, quickly replaced by mid notes of musty 1980s manila folders, which slowly make way to clammy, all-night base notes of fryer oil, damp polyester, and lost hope.

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.” [Saul Bellow]

“The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office released several examples of Ten Commandment posters that schools could download and print, including one that added a depiction of Moses and a photograph of Mike Johnson..” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/u...

Well if this isn't embarrassing as hell. [Credit: Elizabeth Landers, Scripps.]

Trump saluting national anthem is not only nauseating, it remains inappropriate as he is a civilian who never served. #NoKingsDay #NoKings #Army250 #parade

“Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.” @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/a-permanen...

It’s not objectionable. In a competition for public sympathy across this country, it’s stupid.