[2] With his family, he moved when he was five years old from New York state to Brighton, Michigan, where his father had been named as pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
[2] Alberta graduated from Brighton High School in 2004 and from Michigan State University in 2008 with a degree in journalism and political science.
[4] After college, Alberta interned for the Wall Street Journal; by 2017, he was an established journalist in Washington.
[3][5] In 2019, Alberta published his first book, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump.
[5][6] Shortly afterward, his father died, and upon returning to Michigan to attend the funeral, he was reprimanded by several members of his father's church who objected to his coverage of Trump; one congregant said Alberta was "part of an evil plot [...] out to undermine God's ordained leader of the United States".