Ben Shapiro Warns Republicans a Hardline Obamacare Stance Will ‘Lead to Democrats in Power in 2028’
Conservative media star Ben Shapiro offered Republican lawmakers some advice as they are barreling towards an “ugly” 2026 midterm performance — and potentially a Democrat retaking the presidency in 2028 — if they don’t act fast.
He also warned that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are not doing Republicans any favors with voters.
Shapiro, on his podcast on Wednesday, said GOP congress members should shift away from their hardline stance on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies. The Republican-Democrat deadlock on Obamacare was a key issue that led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history recently. Democrats ultimately caved on making a deal, without getting the Obamacare subsidies they pushed for.
The Daily Wire co-founder said that, “on an ideological level,” he believed “the federal government should get entirely out of the business of funding health insurance. This should be a state and local governmental issue.”
But on “a political level,” he said Republicans would be better off cutting a deal that meets Democrats somewhere in the middle:
If Republicans are trying to do a ‘solve,’ what they should probably do is boost ACA subsidies for another couple years, but include a bunch of riders that transition it out and make room for larger HSAs.
In other words, provide people some sort of glide path toward a new future, as opposed to a hard stop. Hard stops in American politics typically create massive political blowback, and 2026 looks like it’s going to be pretty ugly for Republicans, anyway.
He added that “the political blowback is going to lead to Democrats in power in 2028. And Republicans who are pretending away the vulnerability that they have electorally here are missing the point.”
Shapiro then criticized Trump’s tariff plan, which he launched in April.
‘The reality is, the president’s tariff policy is widely unpopular,” Shapiro said.
He offered alternative ideas for improving the economy, including more deregulation and lower taxes.
Shapiro, earlier in the podcast, applauded Trump for a few things, like inflation dropping from where it was under President Joe Biden. Energy prices decreasing has been another win for the Trump Administration, he said.
But Democrats have shrewdly avoided talking about inflation and focused on “affordability,” which he said is a “broad buzzword” that symbolizes the economic pain many Americans are feeling.
Trump and Republicans need to listen to those concerns and address them, ASAP, Shapiro said.
“One of the rules of politics is that when people are feeling bad about their own personal economic situation, you can’t tell them they are actually doing great,” he said.
Watch above.
