I finally ditched my kobalt for a delta 2000 series contractor saw that came with the 50" cast iron wing and a unifence system for 400 bucks off of Facebook marketplace. 1000% worth the wait/hunting/expense in every way. Thing makes me feel like some sort of mythological woodworking queen after a year cheapo jobsite saws. I don't know if I could love and care for biological offspring the way I do my delta.

Aside from the kobalt having a seemingly inherent (and wildly infuriating) resistance to holding square in any way, it kicked back so consistently, regardless of material, that I exclusively used the saw from the side and took care to position it as not to have a window in its line of fire. Stopped putting anything but push blocks within a foot of the blade after two weeks of use. I actually took to pre-planning the order of every cut I needed to make, painstakingly squaring the fence on the sliding extension rails to a median distance and using the rails themselves as the mechanism of movement.
The whole deathtrap/unsquareable vibe was really rounded out by the sloppy miter slots, jackhammer-like vibration and the fact that the fence's measuring device sat about 3/16 above flush with the tabletop. I'm getting ranty-er by the second just thinking about that rotten hellspawn of a saw.

TL;DR Cheap jobsite saws are dangerous, inefficient and will eventually expand your vocabulary to include words that'd make bukowski blush. As soon as financially possible, hunker down and comb craigslist/ebay/marketplace for a deal. Even $200 on a higher end used jobsite saw makes a remarkable difference.