Eh, this is true but I dont think its because of the programming model of bash. I feel like this is conflating the *nix ecosystem with bash. If every programming language was configured by default and had access to standard unix tools with idiomatic bindings, Shell's advantages would be greatly reduced. You still get a scripting language with some neat tricks but I don't think I would reach for it nearly as often if other things were an option.
And sure sure you can call any process from a language but the assumptions are different. No one wants to call a Java jar that has a dependency on the jq CLI app being available.
This has been tried repeatedly - language idiomatic bindings tend to be clunky compared to (e.g.) a simple | pipeline or a couple of <() io redirections.
Shell is a tool that turns out to be pretty good for some things, particularly composing functionality out of other programs and also doing system configuration/tuning stuff to tailor an environment for other programs. It's also really handy for automating tasks you find yourself repeating.
Programming languages are a tool that are pretty good for other things - making new programs, tricky logic, making the most (or at least more than a shell script launching 1000s of new processes) efficient use of a computer.
Trying to replace one with the other is not really useful - they have different jobs. Learning to use them in conjunction on the other hand... there's a lot of power in that.
By comparison - javascript and html. They don't replace each other - yet they are both computer languages used in the same domain, and both have strengths and weaknesses. They have different jobs. And when you use them in conjunction you get something pretty darn powerful.
And sure sure you can call any process from a language but the assumptions are different. No one wants to call a Java jar that has a dependency on the jq CLI app being available.