{"id":2580611,"date":"2026-03-17T03:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joy-reid-claims-us-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T03:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:13:19","slug":"joy-reid-claims-us-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joy-reid-claims-us-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Reid claims US is only \u2018marginally better\u2019 than Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjoy-reid-claims-us-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2580611&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Joy Reid sparked controversy by saying on the One54 podcast that the United States is only marginally better than Iran. She argued that Iranians have reasons to dislike the U.S., referencing the 1953 coup in which Iran\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uk-govt-lockdown-to-last-12-months-expect-repeated-vaccinations\/\" title=\"UK Govt: Lockdown to Last 12+ Months, Expect Repeated Vaccinations\">prime minister<\/a> was toppled with Western involvement, and she suggested that both Iran\u2019s regime and the U.S. government share similarities, including the use of \u201csecret police.\u201d Reid claimed the U.S. regime oppresses women and restricts abortion rights in many states, and she contrasted Iran\u2019s higher portrayal of women in STEM with what she described as the U.S. pushing women out of the military and from higher education, including DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>she <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >tied religious devotion<\/a> to these societal restrictions, arguing that America\u2019s Christian framework is not that different from Iran\u2019s Islamic theocracy. Reid maintained that the United States is only marginally better and that American exceptionalism is used to justify actions perceived as harmful, including war. She also criticized discussions about Arabs, Muslims, and Africans as lacking context, suggesting Americans are told these groups are \u201cdiabolically evil\u201d for no reason. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oops-leader-of-anti-ice-church-invasion-just-made-prosecutors-job-a-lot-easier-22\/\" title=\"Oops: Leader of Anti-ICE Church Invasion Just Made Prosecutors&#039; Job a Lot Easier\">article notes social-media reactions<\/a> to her remarks, including a critical tweet from Clay Travis. Published by the Washington Examiner, the piece situates Reid\u2019s comments within broader political discourse and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/megyn-kelly-laments-the-loss-of-someone-sent-by-god-in-charlie-kirk\/\" title=\"Megyn Kelly laments the loss of &#039;someone sent by God&#039; in Charlie Kirk\">includes related stories<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-new-alex-pretti-video-shows-disturbingly-unhinged-icu-nurse-flip-out-screaming-assault-me-and-spitting-at-ice\/\" title=\"Watch: New Alex Pretti Video Shows Disturbingly Unhinged ICU Nurse Flip Out, Screaming &#039;Assault Me!&#039; and Spitting at ICE\">media embeds<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Joy Reid claims US is only &lsquo;marginally better&rsquo; than Iran<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2534023\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Former MSNBC talk show host <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joy-reid\/\">Joy Reid<\/a> made some controversial comments on a recent podcast in which she claimed that the United States was only &ldquo;marginally better&rdquo; than <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\">Iran<\/a>. Reid made the comments on the <em>One54<\/em> podcast last Wednesday, hosted by former <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nfl\/\">NFL<\/a> player Akbar Gbajabiamila and the comedian Godfrey.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While discussing current events, and specifically the military conflict with Iran, Reid <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/podcasts\/joy-reid-claims-america-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran-we-have-secret-police\/\">said<\/a> that Iranians were justified in disliking the United States due to the 1953 coup in which Iran&rsquo;s Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown, an effort that Great Britain and the United States aided. Later, she claimed that Iran&rsquo;s regime and the U.S. government had many similarities. She emphasized that the U.S. &ldquo;regime&rdquo; was &ldquo;not good.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4493531\/trump-former-president-praise-iran-strikes\/\">Trump says former president praised his Iran strikes, but all four issue denials<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4493753\/afghanistan-civilians-killed-pakistan-bombing-rehab\/\">Afghanistan claims over 400 civilians killed in Pakistani bombing of drug rehab center<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4493511\/court-allows-doj-proceed-appeal-law-firm-executive-orders\/\">Court allows DOJ to proceed with appeal over law firm executive orders<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Joy Reid says women in Iran are better off than women in America. She should move to Iran then. I&rsquo;m sure she would thrive there. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R6yF4wD8D9\">pic.twitter.com\/R6yF4wD8D9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ClayTravis\/status\/2033566245954417067?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Now, I&rsquo;m not saying that that regime is not bad, but, by the way, our regime is not good,&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/claytravis\/status\/2033566245954417067?s=46\">said<\/a> Reid.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She then expressed her opinions on why the countries were similar, starting with her claiming that both Iran and the U.S. had &ldquo;secret police.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our regime has secret police,&rdquo; Reid <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/podcasts\/joy-reid-claims-america-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran-we-have-secret-police\/\">said<\/a> during the podcast. &ldquo;They have secret police. Our regime is oppressing women, taking away abortion rights, taking away women&rsquo;s rights in like 26 states &mdash; some states where they&rsquo;re trying to have the death penalty for having an abortion. They also oppress women.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>She then pivoted to a comparison of the education of women in Iran versus the U.S., referencing the percentage of Iranian women who are STEM majors.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They have the highest rate of women who are in STEM careers,&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/podcasts\/joy-reid-claims-america-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran-we-have-secret-police\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Reid. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re kicking women out of the military, out of university. We&rsquo;re saying that DEI means women can&rsquo;t be hired for high positions in the sciences.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Reid later commented about religion in both countries, claiming that a devotion to Christianity was the basis for her previously mentioned societal restrictions. She compared this to Iran&rsquo;s theocracy and commitment to Islam.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So we&rsquo;re marginally better (than Iran),&rdquo; Reid <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/podcasts\/joy-reid-claims-america-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran-we-have-secret-police\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;And we&rsquo;re doing it for Christianity, they&rsquo;re doing it for Islam, right?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So, it&rsquo;s like we don&rsquo;t get told those things because it would take away the kind of American exceptionalism narrative that makes it easy to take our people and send them off to die in a war that we have nothing to do with, that we don&rsquo;t want,&rdquo; she added.<\/p>\n<p>Reid also elaborated on what she believes are narratives surrounding &ldquo;Arabs and Muslims and Africans&rdquo; in political discourse. She <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/articles\/joy-reid-claims-america-only-162046207.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEy6kzFZ5MI8A-Rn9Hm2F57-BkEA0pGP8ZdA7yWimirsdLnD_VZdw6V2-TRtfxHP3wU8mr0cKTenjx5vDtJL8EP9Ld2S_8Yj8YKeqw274RrD--cA0ObUVA84vprYMOS7WMwZSh8KuPDCKHgh-gwAAs7k4tfT8cSntbRxTIZh3FKZ\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stated<\/a> that &ldquo;context was not welcome&rdquo; in such discussions and that people in the U.S. are allegedly told Arabs, Muslims, and Africans &ldquo;are diabolically evil for no reason.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4491652\/iran-finance-death-blow-war\/\"><strong>IRAN FACES FINANCIAL DEATH BLOW BECAUSE OF WAR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We get told, particularly when it comes to Arabs and Muslims and Africans, that people are just diabolically evil for no reason, right?&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/podcasts\/joy-reid-claims-america-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran-we-have-secret-police\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> the former host of <em>The ReidOut<\/em>. &ldquo;That they do things because they hate our freedoms. We were told this about Iraq: that they just hated us for no damn reason at all. So there&rsquo;s no reason why Iran would hate us.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But it turns out there&rsquo;s a lot of reasons why Iran should hate us,&rdquo; she <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/podcasts\/joy-reid-claims-america-is-only-marginally-better-than-iran-we-have-secret-police\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;We took their freedom, and we don&rsquo;t get told that, and so Americans get fed this false, objective story &mdash; particularly about global south countries, Muslim countries, African countries &mdash; that makes you believe a false narrative that tries to justify our actions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joy Reid: US only marginally better than Iran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2580612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ive-Had-It-Reid-shirt-front-00_55_19-2025-11-25-e1764616025584.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[42519,75937,75939,70968,75938],"class_list":["post-2580611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-internationalrelations","tag-joyreid","tag-mediacommentary","tag-usforeignpolicy","tag-usiranrelations"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ive-Had-It-Reid-shirt-front-00_55_19-2025-11-25-e1764616025584.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2580611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2580615,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580611\/revisions\/2580615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2580612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2580611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2580611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2580611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}