I don't see anything wrong with that. No one is saying that JQuery sucks or that it should die, I think the point is more "use the best tool for the job".
You can buy a massive wrench with all kinds of adjustable settings and addons and stuff but if all you ever need is an Alan key, then maybe the little one that comes with your IKEA furniture is actually better and easier to use than that massive wrench.
1. Less dependencies for your JavaScripts
2. Less "magic" behind the scenes
3. Native JS-engine optimisation
4. Switch of though-process ( jQuery, although quite flexible ), makes you think that everything is "string", "array", "object" and sometimes you need the bare Node-element e.g. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element