I can’t speak to certain politicians’ propensity to find any excuse to remove social safety nets, but I think that would be a huge mistake and misses the point of UBI. UBI studies I’ve followed have shown the money does get spent on necessities as opposed to frivolous things, and is indicated as a potential stepping stone for meaningful upward economic mobility.

I think UBI is justified considering we have had stagnant wages since the 1970s, while continuing to increase productivity. Workers are being stolen from due to this rift, and I see UBI as a way to claw some of that back. However, I also think there should be 0 means testing involved. That kind of overhead would render it ineffective, just give it to everyone. This would be more in the spirit of the OP, as a way to guarantee basic needs are met for everybody.

Lastly, as a response to the “how you gonna pay for that?!” crowd you mentioned - we pay for it the same way we paid for Trump’s $2T tax cut for the rich and corporations, or the same way we are paying for the billions of bombs, weaponry, and funding we are sending to our supposed allies overseas fighting wars right now. To suggest we need to sacrifice social programs to compensate for this is pretty laughable, I think those claiming this would want to sacrifice these things regardless and are just looking for an excuse. An excuse to further marginalize the working class. They can attempt to do so at their own political peril, as things like social security and Medicare are some of the most popular government programs in the country.