This is a nice concise plan that also highlights the utter shitshow that SEO has become.

Yes!

It’s also that keyword clustering really isn’t a thing anymore; it’s odd that this is still being pushed.

Even a good content written by someone with no Experience, Authority and Trustworthiness (EAT) isn’t going to rank.

Disagree - it is kind of a thing, but truly really depends on what you’re trying to rank for.

EAT is great, but not always the differentiator in weaker SERPSs. Health, finance, loans, etc yes for sure.

Niche and nuanced or low competition areas, not really.

As the end of the day, rise 10% above the top in your industry to rank well.

As always it’s tl;dr content is king.

Is it though?

I follow that strategy, and it's working absurdly well for me. However, when I am looking for something, I see nothing but low quality, almost machine-generated content. Outside of my niche, it looks like content is not king at all.