Ugh, that this psyops sockpuppetry may have started or contributed to the maintainer's mental health issues seems like the most depressing part of all this. Maintaining OSS is hard enough.
If you, as a maintainer, value stability of not only your software but also your own mental health, it is entirely something you can be proud of to resist calls for new features, scope increases, and rapid team additions.
It's also interesting because it exploits the current zeitgeist when it comes to maintainers' responsibilities to their users and communities. Personally, I think it puts too much expectation on maintainers' shoulders, especially when they're working for free.
Personally, I think maintainers are doing favors for users, and if they don't like how the project is progressing or not, then too bad. That's not a popular sentiment, though.
But it's hard to see the whole thing helping, and it is some combination of depressing and infuriating. I hope he's doing ok.