Same here. This situation is so mind-bogglingly ridiculous that I don't know how anybody takes GrapheneOS seriously. I mean, let's say I wanted to buy a big airplane but I don't like Boeing. Airbus looks pretty good and they invite me to their factory to pick out a plane. But then they insist I fly to their factory on a Boeing plane. I'd assume they were joking, and then they say "Really, we're serious."
You can always buy an used Pixel. GOS only supports phones with hardware that they deem secure enough, and Google is currently the only manufacturer that makes phones that match their requirements[1], with upcoming Motorola phones that also support or even come with GOS installed coming out next year. I find this point so obvious that I can't understand people making comments like "can't take them seriously": you make security/privacy OS, having insecure hardware that compromises the whole project would simply not make any sense. Ask other manufacturers to do better.
This. I bought an open box Pixel for a mild discount. I have a friend that used to work at Best Buy. He said so many people would try to switch from iPhone to Pixel, but decide they didn't like it and return the phone.
The goal is that you want a privacy-focused phone. Whether Google makes money or not doesn't matter to the goal. Has nothing to do with you liking or not liking Google...Google is a "don't care".