Damn near every application I install through the terminal requires sudo.

The only time I haven't had to invoke sudo was using the graphical flatpack installer included in Linux Mint.

Many of the people who I have had to support through my IT work would 1000% brick their system by following copy+paste commands using sudo instead of just installing a flatpack.

The choice isn't supposed to be for us hobbyists. It's meant for a "I would like to make my system protected from my ignorance, please".