You've got to be kidding me man, I wanted to buy a phone that I could put a custom ROM on for years to come, I originally got an ASUS Zenfone for the same reason, and JUST as I get them both, they start locking things down. At least I was able to get lineage on my pixel for now, but who knows about updates!
I use the built in wireguard VPN in my router. If you just need local network access elsewhere it's usually really easy to setup if your router provides it. I would look into it!
More people voted for no one than either of the candidates actually. That's the real issue, our politicians are so bad people feel like it's pointless to vote for either. Which is obviously not the case, but Dems aren't exactly doing a good job, rachet theory and all
I too saw the cat