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Comment by oxymoran | Hacker News Reader

He wouldn’t be able to capture the GOP endorsing UBI and universal healthcare.

For the GOP it’s more his healthcare stance than UBI that sinks him. And ironically the flip side is true for democrats. A lot of democrats act like they support UBI, but they really don’t.

They think it’s just about giving money to the lower middle class downward. You tell them that UBI means giving a millionaire the same check as the poor guy and the hackles get raised.

Boris seems to be trying to pivot some aspects of the conservative party that way.

I think UBI and healthcare would be the least of his issues. Trump showed that social conservatism/fiscal liberalism could be a winning formula for GOP voters. I wouldn’t be surprised if some young, socially conservative candidate in 2024/2028 who is willing to cancel debt/fund stimulus/healthcare wins by a landslide.

They could've done that for many election cycles, but the GOP is ultimately in the hands of big business donors and isn't about to do that. Not that the Democrats aren't either, but they are at least offset by unions and similar groups.

I'm afraid you're right about the GOP and it scares me. If Trump had been a better technocrat, I think it would have been very difficult to unseat him in 2020 and he could have brought the US in a very conservative, adversarial direction by effectively implementing his policies.

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