I couldn’t have articulated this quite as well as you but my friends laughed me off when I said to them that a foreign country/power is almost certainly pulling the strings and taking over the US. Granted they are no fans of führer musk or his pal trump, but you can bet I’ll be reiterating this point the next time I speak with them, doing my best to mask my “I told you so” tone (yes I’m petty).
How about Vivaldi?? I’ve switched since last year and it’s been pretty great of a browser. There’s the focus on privacy, ethical/transparent policies, and its development team are users of fediverse socials!