It's not essentially a hard fork-- it's a soft fork. And it doesn't necessarily have to be done by Core. (Nor do I think their reputation is deteriorated in the eyes of serious people.)
If it's contested, if forces and chain choice and a split that cannot be brought back together without another emergency intervention. So yes, effectively it is a hard fork by history change rather then a rule change. And if not Core, who and how? I think there are some very serious and committed bitcoiners on the knots side that are interested in maintaining bitcoin as money and I don't think they will capitulate. Yourself, and youre inner circle of serious bitcoiners may not thing Cores reputation has deteriorated but the reality is 22% of the network jumped ship, price has been down huge since release, lead maintainer gone, legendary supporter likely involved with epstein, and having to pull the Core 30 release for a major bug. Doesnt look great to me