Nixon was very right wing on international policy and a fervent anti-communist.
On domestic policy he was -- well let's say at least shaded to the left to a significant degree on some but not all issues, putting into place: The Clean Air Act, affirmative action, an expansion of social security benefits, the original version of the AMT, OSHA, plus he imposed wage and price controls over the entire US economy via executive order. You can make a list of conservative things he did too, even outside of international policy. He was a straddler. But to point to any individual left-ish domestic policy and expect surprise that Nixon supported it only works if one's audience is ignorant.
Only Nixon could go to China makes sense. Even Nixon supported UBI, not so much.
Pretty much every president has been reviled as a dangerous extremist by his enemies while in office, then granted strange new respect when the next president from that party gains the office (or even the next candidate), and used as a cudgel to bash the current dangerously extreme occupant.
