Joy Reid’s History and Civics Lesson

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Former MSNBC Host Joy Reid was on the air with Don Lemon (who was stupid enough to laugh along as she garbled her idiocy) and launched into a nice little history lesson about what it would take to gain Canada as the 51st State, and the wars we’ve engaged in with the country to the north.  The problem is everything she said was wrong, except perhaps the comparison of Canada’s size geographically as compared to that of the United States.  A video of that exchange can be found here:

• https://youtu.be/gdfEEnlpvcA?si=utxuASpr2jCoLvPD 

A couple of articles about it can be found here:

• https://notthebee.com/article/joy-reid-literally-thinks-the-united-states-would-lose-in-a-war-with-canada-today-and-her-reasoning-is-even-dumber-than-you-think/
• https://wltreport.com/2025/03/21/joy-reid-ridiculed-absurd-take-hypothetical-us-canada

Here’s the transcript of what Joy Reid had to say, and a bullet point by bullet point response by me.

“Grumpy Trump let’s talk let’s talk.

First of all you can’t make Canada the 51^st State without going to war with them¹ and let me explain how that happened, how that worked out the last time we tried to go to war with Canada²… they burned the White House³ to the ground⁴ in 1814 and won the war.  Canada beat us in the War of 1812.⁵  They probably like their chances against us we’re not going to beat them in a war because we have never been able to do that⁶.  You’d have to occupy a country^8a that is equivalent of the size of the United States⁷ in which the top 2/3 of it is uninhabited frozen forest land that touches the Arctic.^8b  You know how that worked out when the Nazis tried that with Russia⁹ which is the equivalent of Canada on that part of the world? We going to lose. We don’t have enough troops to occupy¹⁰. They are a country of 39 million people¹¹ who are who have about as many guns per capita as we do¹².”

1. While the Southwest United States territory was gained after the Mexican-American War* (which is probably the example Joy has in her head) most of the members of the United States were not gained by war, but by treaty and purchase.
2. Military operations in the territory that is known today as Canada has happened twice (Revolutionary War and the War of 1812) because the land known as Canada was a part of British North America and we were at war with Britain.
3. Canada did not torch the White House, British troops did.
4. The White House was not burned to the ground, the stone walls remained standing.
5. Canada did not beat us, and win the War of 1812. The war between Britain and the U.S. basically ended in a stale-mate, with a mutual decision to end it.  Historically, the U.S. has always seen it as a victory since we survived a war against the world’s preeminent power of the time.  The American military salute denotes the U.S. has never lost a war.
6. We’ve never been at war with Canada, and even if true, 200 years later the U.S. is not the country it was back then.
7. The land area of Canada is 3,855,103 square miles, U.S. land area is 3,794,083 square miles, making Canada 1.6% larger.
8. (8a & 8b) Wouldn’t the fact that 2/3 of Canada is uninhabited make those areas easier to occupy?
9. The NAZIs failed in their attempt to invade and occupy Russia because they were hit by an unexpected storm and most of their personnel were fighting two other fronts; the Western Front and in the Mediterranean./North Africa.
10. The number of troops needed to occupy is much less than the population.  To successfully occupy a territory, a typical rule of thumb suggests a ratio of 20 to 25 military occupiers per 1,000 residents.  If we choose 25 per thousand, the need would be about 837,500 troops.  The U.S. currently has about 1.3 million active duty personnel, and around 800,000 reservists and National Guard members.  In polls, 13% of the population of Canada agrees with the idea of Canada becoming a part of the U.S., which would give the U.S. more than 4 million supporters in Canada who would likely be of assistance.
11. U.S. population: 307,212,123; Canada, 33,487,208 in 2010.  In the 2020 census, the US resident population was 331,449,281, while Canada’s population was estimated at 38,005,238.
12. Canada: estimated 7 civilian firearms per 100 people, significantly lower than U.S. which is 120 firearms per 100.

Trump never said anything about invading Canada, and his comments are basically just a suggestion and a negotiation tactic.  Obviously, Canada would not have the opportunity to become a State unless the people of Canada voted in favor of it.  The more likely scenario would be provinces seceding from Canada and then applying for statehood.

*  The Mexican-American War, despite arguments calling it a war of expansion, was actually a war of liberation in which the United States came to the aid of Texas who sought to become a U.S. State (and had at that point, the year prior to the start of the war) and other territories that were being ravaged by Mexican Dictator Santa Anna, and other dictators who took the mantle, as the leadership changed during the war.

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