Didn't Guido resign due to politics[0]? I think politics is an issue of organization size more so than structure.
[0] https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-committers/2018-Jul...
[0] https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-committers/2018-Jul...
That said burntsushi at least doesn't seem like an activist to me, so the grievances are probably legitimate. Coming from someone less prominent they'd not have anywhere near the same weight in my eyes. We just don't know what they are.
I take Linux organizational model over Rust's every day. A group of super competent people with no bullshit policy. It is proven. The problem is how to form the successor to the dictator.