Culdesac is a word for a stretch of street that has no through way, a dead end. The only reason to drive into it is if you are going to one of the houses.
Honestly, once I was on HRT for a while, just tuck everything away works even in a bikini. I have never done a proper tuck with a gaff because before HRT I used specific clothing styles that didn't need it, and after it just hasn't been necessary.
Less direct: passing laws stating "you can't do that."
Least direct but the final boss: denying funding to whatever department he is using to do things they don't like.
I suppose a full coup could establish funding sources not controlled by congress, but I suspect that things like bond markets would react unfavorably to a government power struggle on that scale. A dictator unconstrained by constitutional safeguards is not a safe bet to lend money to, and economic firestorm would topple even a successful coup as billionaires, pensions, and corporations saw their wealth evaporate and working people lost their jobs.
Let's be clear, the courts and legislature could stop this, they choose not to. They are captured. When/if a Democrat reaches the White House again they will not have half the power that Trump wields.
(The courts are a little iffy, but I'm still confident the legislature could stop it if they wanted)
Parties didn't put those politicians on the ballot, voters did. The Democratic party got rid of smoke filled rooms and contested conventions in the 1970's and the Republican party followed suit in the 1980's.
If you are disatisfied with the pols on offer, you have only to look to your neighbors.
They feel trapped by the system because they are trapped by the system. Even the politicians are trapped by the system. Voters know which ones are full of shit because the answer is literally all of them.
AOC has gotten pushback recently for her vote for weapons to Israel. I don't think she forgot where she came from in 8 years, I think she works in a system that is corrosive, where you are punished for pushing back and rewarded for conformity in ways that even the strongest principles cannot resist.
The voters do not care and are not privy to the pressures and compromises the pols are making. I don't think the system is fixable in any foreseeable timeframe. And for that reason, I am content to throw my vote to the least bad candidate. I'll keep doing that in primaries and general elections until we don't get to vote anymore. Hopefully, it never gets that far.
So, I don't think you are entirely wrong, but I think you (and by extension, all americans) are out of luck on that front. There is not a single democratic candidate who, if elected with a supermajority in congress and a supportive supreme court, that would turn around the economic situation in the US from the course it's on.
You can get some wins with social issues and foreign policy, and tinker around the edges of the economy, but even if Sanders or AOC became dictators tomorrow, their stated goals, while being light years ahead of Trump or any Republican, would not reverse the decline in living standards for the majority of Americans.
For the issues most Americans care about most, their pocket book, lesser evil is all there is or will be for the foreseeable future.
So, you think that if the Dems run a candidate with principled stances and popular positions that people would support them.
I have no such faith in the American voter. They can't tell the difference between principles and propaganda, and they have no idea what's good for them.
Honestly, with the right propaganda it won't take that long.