It seems Apple is using Catalyst more and more to make their apps on macOS. So instead of the Mac getting a real version of its own, it gets the iPad version.

This feels like a step backward. iOS and iPadOS get versions that are tailored to those unique platforms, and macOS just gets the scraps.

I can see where they would want to dog food their own technologies, but as they do it more and more, it starts to feel like they don’t care about making macOS as good as it could be… it can only be as good as the iPad, which constantly gets criticized for the software not living up to what it could be for the hardware (read: it’s not desktop software). It feels like they’re going in the wrong direction just to save money.

IMO the main problem is not being too iOS-like (though it is indeed blurring this distinction much more), but that Liquid Glass is a huge and mediocre change everywhere including on the phones.

Yes.