Unless you've gone thru every single line of Bitcoin and understand it (no single dev does), then you are "trusting the protocol". Have you gone thru all billion+ transaction inputs/outputs? How about all new transactions every ten minutes? Ok, then you're trusting software that you don't fully understand. Completely different from merely running a node.

Bitcoin relies on cryptographic assumptions too. All cryptocurrencies do. 

 With Bitcoin, the trust in the protocol is all based on proven understanding. It's not "blind" trust. I don't know how to sign a Bitcoin transaction, but I know Satoshi Nakamoto knew how to sign a Bitcoin transaction.

With Monero, my little trust in the protocol is based purely on blind hope. 

 You have no clue what you are talking about. 

Everything Monero uses is based on proven and understood math and crypto from the 80s it's about as old as Bitcoins tech. Which funny enough you probably don't understand so are trusting too. 

 https://image.nostr.build/c83c0f72d509c443c3faf801c53b6be145f22fb4a36166c7a1cca5de09046a79.jpg 

 You don't take advantage of "amounts in the clear" to verify the billion+ txns anyway. No Bitcoiner does. You just run a node and pay no mind like any Monero user would.

I fail to see your advantage if you never do it in practice.

"Can, but doesn't" is essentially the same thing as "Can't"

It's larping 

 Not sure where you're getting this stuff but no, what you're saying is not correct.