The problem is that people are frequently using SPA JS frameworks for things that are clearly not gmail of figma -- i.e. news websites and other sites with minimal interactivity or dynamic behaviour. If you are genuinely building an 'app'-like thing, then of course you need some kind of JS SPA framework, but too often people are reaching for these tools for non-app use cases.
I say if you have any reactivity whatsoever you need a framework. If you don't your code will be crap, and there's really no getting around that. Once you start doing DOM calls to update GUI you've got a mess on your hands instantly, and it will only get worse over time.