"You should not doubt. You should watch their actions and think"
I will always agree with that.
My take is that Bitcoin Core is of course going to pay more attention to the people paying them, as is always the case. Assuming people will act in their own best interest is table stakes for life. I'm not concerned about it here because I don't think that Bitcoin Core is being lead around by corporate interests (yet). It seems that they're mostly being paid to "make Bitcoin better", and if they make decisions that needlessly disenfranchise node runners they will be failing to do that.
Now I did say that "node runners" are their customers, and it's a common trope that if you aren't paying for something you aren't the customer, but if you're actually being paid to foster a healthy ecosystem, then to an extent those users are a direct proxy. And to that end, if node runners don't like something, they should say it. Or vote with their feet. Or, say it, *and* vote with their feet. But trekking mud through someone's office just to make a point isn't winning anything. In fact it's a pretty good demonstration that maybe not every customer is going to be a happy one... and that's okay too.
The best way to persuade people is by making good arguments. It doesn't always work, but it's all we've got