I think the reason is probably that the relevant maintainer doesn't see DHH as someone it's embarrassing to be citing with approval, not because politics and technology are separable but because he shares the views a lot of people disapprove of DHH for.

At any rate, someone noticed that he has a Youtube playlist (which has since been deleted, or maybe just made private) full of Curtis Yarvin (= Mencius Moldbug), Peter Thiel, and others known for such views.

If someone says "hey, you've got a quote from X who is a known Bad Person on your website; it would look better if you removed it" and you agree that X is a Bad Person then it's indeed pretty surprising and odd if you vigorously insist on leaving it there, and it looks like some sort of indifference to right and wrong.

But if in fact you think X is a Good Person who is being persecuted by a mob with Bad Opinions, it becomes much less surprising and looks (at least from your own perspective) like righteously standing up for your values against peer pressure and persecution.

(My own opinion, not that it's directly relevant, is that DHH is in the wrong morally and factually on this stuff. So I think Justin K. was standing up for bad values. But that isn't exactly the point; the point is that from this perspective his actions become much more comprehensible, even if not more encouraging for those of us who have been happy neovim users but object to anti-immigration politics.)