Greg Bretz

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@EricLDaugh But the strait is wide open… I’m confused.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

I’ve always found people who bristle at “American exceptionalism” kind of… weird. Not because I lack self-awareness — I’ve spent my career cataloging every way this country fails to live up to its own rules. But that’s exactly why I love it so damn much. We built a system designed to be shamed by its own founding documents, and it still delivered one of the most spectacular, world-altering runs in human history. A genuine force for human flourishing.

I also found the argument against American exceptionalism to be historically illiterate. Here’s a sample of what we were first at:

• The first large-scale democratic republic in human history — not a city-state, not a monarchy with a parliament bolted on, but a bold continental experiment in self-rule, popular sovereignty, and ordered liberty.

• A written Constitution (1789) with separation of powers and checks & balances — still the oldest national constitution in force anywhere.

• The Bill of Rights (1791): the first time a nation wrote “the government cannot touch these” into supreme law and actually meant it. A dare the world copied — from later rights charters to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• Public land-grant universities and mass higher education (Morrill Act), opening college to ordinary people no aristocracy would have let near the gates. (but don’t get me started about what happened after we started. Massively federally funding it.)

• Kitty Hawk, 1903 — first controlled powered flight.

• The Moon, 1969 — still the only ones who’ve been there.

• The world’s largest economy since ~1890, powering unprecedented prosperity through grit and genius.

• The assembly line, skyscraper, transistor, personal computer, ARPANET — the backbone of the modern world.

• Telephone, phonograph, GPS — connecting and powering daily life.

• Surgical anesthesia, polio vaccine — saving and transforming millions of lives.

• Jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll — brand new American art forms that conquered the globe.

• Hollywood’s dreams, blue jeans, bourbon, and a culture so open a kid like me could devour sushi, burritos, stuffed cabbage, and tabouli in the same week and rightfully think of it all as American.

That’s the part that fills me with genuine love and pride: not just the power or the wins, but the appetite for freedom, creativity, and reinvention. The audacity to say “We the People” and keep trying to live up to it.

What do you love most about this truly exceptional country? 🇺🇸

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@BretWeinstein Wasn’t part of the pitch that Trump was immune to deep state influence? The primary argument against Biden was that he was senile and could be manipulated behind the scenes. In your alternate hypothesis you are also conned.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@tanvi_ratna @AmericanDebunk @PeterZeihan called this shot years ago in his books. He’s been shockingly prescient on a lot of things. Also predicted Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@TheSaneClowns @0xmitsurii True. The pool of people looking for 25 hrs is very different though. I suspect his ego would also prevent him from doing this. More likely he just continues growing the business and complaining or finds/lobbies for a loophole.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@LaNativePatriot It’s our fault, not the politicians. Until we stop punishing both austerity and taxation this problem will continue to get worse. The solution is easy. Elect people committed to solving the debt problem and keep them around long enough to implement.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@dccommonsense @spookysecretguy You’re thinking WAY more critically than them, Dan. Lower your expectations. A lot.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@JohnLeFevre Exactly. Exhibit A.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@RubinReport @kasie I think it's exactly what he meant, but both he (and you) imagined it would be different tyrants behind the pepper spray, guns, and masks. The cognitive dissonance must be painful.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

🎯

[David Harsanyi @davidharsanyi]

No one is in charge. That's why they're cheap.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@paulg @ArmandDoma Common ground, at last!

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@NickKristof @StarTribune I wish @EpsilonTheory wasn't so depressingly accurate with this piece from 2024. We are officially in the ravine. https://t.co/I5nQtkE7la

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@bbqbaseball62 @ianbremmer Trump walked into a Chipotle with an AR-15 and demanded they sell him a $20 burrito.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@secnumbersguy Congratulations to the USA for its success over the past 250 years!

The Roman Empire has over 5x the total years of global hegemony since 27 BCE, you losers. 🤓

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@BoxScore_FB A perfect example of why the B12 needs to schedule better out of conference games. There was not a single OOC win by a B12 team that could be used to benchmark the conf this year. Kudos to BYU for putting ND on the schedule the next 2 years.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@BYUbluThru A perfect example of why the B12 needs to schedule better out of conference games. There was not a single OOC win by a B12 team that could be used to benchmark the conf this year. Kudos to BYU for putting ND on the schedule the next 2 years.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@mkhammer @grok define the word “irony” for our friend @mkhammer. Thanks

[Stewart Mandel @slmandel]

School that has never made the CFP cancels century old rivalry over concerns it might get left out of the CFP.

[Greg Bretz @gregbretz]

@BruceFeldmanCFB @PeteSampson_ That was terrible football and proof the SEC bias, which may have once been warranted, is now disconnected from reality. Both ND and BYU would have beaten both of those teams.