Okay, but there was also evidence and discussions about Justin having overthrown Tron's governance in the past to get his code through and that he actively planned to move steem over to tron and it only being a token on the network rather than its own coin which would've make the security of the chain even more questionable.
I'd say that evidence was more prominent than what you mention here
There was evidence back then that they had some intention of making things work and working towards mutually beneficial goals.
I was someone who at the time welcomed Tron and thought let's do what we can with the cards we were dealt, attempted to ignore his reputation in the space, etc, but when the time came where he'd throw those plans around in interviews and through his exchange, and his spokesperson barely acknowledged our fears of the future of the chain, he didn't give us many options. That said I don't agree with how you stated in the end of the comment that "we" wanted to completely eliminate the ninja-mined stake, if that was the case we would've probably done so when Hive was created. It also paints the picture that everyone who voted for the freeze was out to eliminate a giant supply of the token rather than wanting it to be used as had been made clear by the founders for years but never followed up on.
What it comes down to, in my opinion, is this, he was a sole actor with a lot of stake which he could control the network with, we were many block producers all over the world with different views, morals and visions of decentralization and freedom. Instead of trusting that the bp's who had kept the chain running for years wouldn't just flat out steal/eliminate his stake but demand gov to be left alone and the promise the founders had made with it to be followed, he decided to go on the offensive even harder (yes I admit the freeze was an offensive albeit more defensive move) and overthrow gov in the worst way possible that shook the whole crypto space.
If witnesses had gone through with eliminating the stake it would've caused a huge backlash and potentially ruined the community forever so I don't believe that was ever an option and I personally wouldn't have voted for such code. Similarly I respect your decision to not even vote for the code to freeze the tokens temporarily but again it seems like you're saying that's the sole reason you weren't able to make it back into top20 which looking at 
That's kind of the issue I had with your initial comment so just wanted to make my memories of what occurred clear.
Hope you're doing well and to see you more active again at some point!
RE: What are your expectations of Hive witnesses?