Most tenants are functionally judgement-proof, unless you only rent to upper-middle class people

This is fair on large damage numbers, but you can often squeeze someone making $40-50k/yr if they owe you $5-$10k in malice-caused damages... but more importantly, for that kind of damage, you're talking about small-claims court. You don't need a lawyer, just time, and "they poured concrete into the toilet - here's my bill" is the kind of open-and-shut case small-claims court thrives on.

As far as not being a slumlord, I have absolutely no tolerance for landlords that don’t want to keep properties in good repair, full stop

100% agree. But even super-renter-friendly states do little to hold landlords accountable. If you want to be a slumlord, you can be a successful slumlord. Tenant holds you to task with the state? You don't renew the lease. There's ways they can fuck with you if they know better, but often they don't. From someone I'm involved in a lawsuit with (can't give details), slumlording is a no-brainer as a numbers game. 100 slum apartments, get sued once a year, huge win.

Yeah, it’s expensive to replace a roof, but fuck you, that’s why you’re taking in rent.

Fuck yes. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "all landlords are evil" tankie rhetoric, but boy do I sympathize with them on the specific topic of slumlords.