I'm expected to trust these people with the Bitcoin network?
this is the problem... you shouldn't have to trust anyone with the Bitcoin network, the network should be able to choose what it wants, not what one team wants.
you're looking for someone to trust, obviously its easier to TRUST core more than BU devs, this is perfectly rational, they have dozens more devs, and these devs have been at it for twice as long as BU devs.
but we shouldn't trust any of these people( BU or Core), we should trust in the network to be able to pick and choose between BIP these teams produce, and NOT trust a team to choose whats best for the network.
we need dev teams with competing interest to produce different proposals, the more we have to choose from the better!
I agree, however much people may not like the possibility of BU catching on it is still possible. With Bitcoin being the first cryptocurrency (at least the first publicly released one as far as I know) it is certainly possible to improve it just like the tire went from a stone wheel to a rubber coating. This being said however I do believe BU will have their work cut out for them getting enough people to trust them after their recent news.