I think the issue has more to do with verbiage than logic. TH clearly stated anything one time equals the original.
1 one time = 1
We all agree including him. There is no argument.
If I understand correctly, he is saying u can't multiply and have less than what u started with. 1 multiplied by another 1 has to be a minimum of 2. Each side of the "X" is it's own unit.
1(unit) X 1(unit) is a minimum of 2 units
I'm trying to understand this myself so correct me if I'm wrong.
He is conflicting verbiage (semantics) with mathematical logic.
Use length times width, for example. That's the area of a rectangle/square.
1 meter x 1 meter = 1 meter squared. That gives you area. It doesn't become 2 meters squared; otherwise, you'll fail many architect and engineering schematics if you're trying to measure how much concrete you need to pour in a 1 m by 1 m area.
We do not use units in math, but we use units in physics, engineering, chemistry, etc. So he is trying to explain this with no units, which is why it would make sense to him that 1 x 1 = 2 mathematically and semantically, but it doesn't work once you apply a unit.
Math is only a baseline language of the universe. Once you begin to apply units, you can ignore some aspects that don't apply or aren't real (like imaginary numbers). Physics doesn't use imaginary numbers because they are not real, but in math, we do because it's part of explaining the square root of negative numbers.