I don’t consider using the Mac Desktop and Documents iCloud folder feature as a backup. Any action I take on the files I can touch without consciously mounting a backup container are not safe from my dumb mistakes. I see this Mac feature as a space saving tool, and to provide easy access between different devices.
I believe this is the third time I have opted to try the feature, and each time, I end up turning it off because it just adds confusion to my life. Not true for everyone, just me.
And being an observant computer user, when I turned off the feature for the first time, I ignored the warning that popped up about the system deleting the folders, and keeping the files in iCloud Drive. Boy, was I pissed at Apple while I recovered my files from my backup drive. And slightly embarrassed when I read the warning several months later, about to repeat the same mistake.