What other platforms embed a subset of a language into the templating one? I've only seen this done in HTML. Even "back then" I opted to use pure PHP for templates rather that trying to use some comment magic based DSL that does little more than variable replacement and a for loop. The templates in Angular for example are a good example of what is wrong with stuffing code into templates rather than going the other way around.

Surely your decades of practical experience can instance an evidence-based response here.

Why the personal attack?

It's not a 'new' complaint about React, it's been said plenty of times, go do your own research.

Observing that your only point of evidence is your own unsubstantiated personal opinion is not the same thing as conducting a personal attack.