Don’t do this, a cheap non-programmable thermostat is a better option and inexpensive.

Wire them both up so that your cheap thermostat provides hard upper and lower limits.

Your HVAC doesn't care where it gets a 24V signal. An open relay won't mind being energized from the "wrong" direction. AFAIK, thermostats won't tattle.

For real, you have to hotwire your AC for manual operation?

You can change the temperature after rush hour starts. I'm talking about turning off the rush hour crap entirely.

They got back to me and wanted to do a phone call to unenroll me. I told them they could do it without speaking to me since I don't have any power in the process, so we got to skip the phone call. I'm officially out of rush hour.