No, they can't. DOGE gutted basically everything that made the government useful to regular people. And it's the Trump regime's fault we're in this mess in the first place.
They're not going to admit fault, even indirectly. We're on our own.
It makes me sad that some of the "nerdy" people in these spaces would join with the very people that would gladly throw them under the bus or use them as minority fodder, but as I've seen with experts in science, high intelligence in one area doesn't mean you are capable of critical thinking.
ETA: to be clear, I'm not saying we should ignore scientists and experts, just that specialized expertise ≠ general expertise.
You need to think of the kind of people that are interested in nerdy computing topics. Regular people that just want to make something nice to share with the world, sure, but also incels, toxic masculinity proponents, etc.
They're mostly able to hide, because like you point out, computer science and related topics are mostly apolitical; when you make scary changes, however, those same latter people can't help themselves but to blame the villainous "They."
I absolutely would use a "trusted gaming mode," even if that meant a separate partition just for those few games that need it.
I'm not familiar enough with the technical aspects of how kernels and bootloaders handle the various launch procedures to ensure they haven't or aren't being tampered with, but I think your idea sounds like a good compromise between, "It's my Linux to modify," and, "It's my Linux to use." There's not exactly a ton of games that require anti-cheat, so I think giving up a little freedom for those few games (which you would be anyway, due to anti-cheat) with a separate mode/system is justifiable.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
Y'all, remember when people freaked out over Mozilla changing their TOU (but not their Privacy Policy)? This bill is the pro-corporate, ultracapitalist, "hold my beer" version of that change, and it could be enshrined into law.
If you live in California, call your state reps (i.e. don't just email or write a letter). Tell them to vote no on this blatant privacy violation.
ETA: this is a bipartisan bill. If you have a Democratic rep, don't just assume they'll vote against it. Call them, too!