WHY can't we disable 2FA?

Before the lazy comments about my account being more than 14 days - I don't have an active phone number, and my iphone is circling the drain - during use, the battery depletes faster than it charges. I'm switching to android for my phone, but I plan on getting an ipad in the next year. However, without a phone number or my trusted device (my iphone), I won't be able to verify/login, even with my password. The phone is not being kept - it's a fire hazard at this point, and I'm not buying a new battery just to maintain a trusted device.

As of right now, I'm in the process of copying everything on icloud elsewhere. If I get an ipad, I want to be able to login to my account, using my username and password. I'm not asking much here. I do not want to try to recover my account using apple's automated system - automated systems are comparatively dumb, often leading to dead ends. More importantly, I should not have to recover my account because apple is forcing me to "lose" it. I should just be able to disable 2FA, or at least implement an alternative factor like an authenticator.

This is partially just a rant, but if I've missed anything in the documentation or anyone has encountered this before, advice is welcome. I REALLY like Apple's design. But I'm considering clearing out and closing my icloud / account before I lose control of it, and that's just... Incentive to not come back to ios.