> we are hopeless at determining who is trustworthy and who isn’t

We are not at all hopeless. We're not perfect, but we do pretty well. Just because people make mistakes sometimes doesn't at all mean that everyone is hopeless. Bad software is written, but we can produce good software. People trust the wrong person, but democracy and human rights has blossomed and spread.

Your proposals about politicians are interesting in that Trump likely wouldn't agree to facing the consequences of his actions.