I personally wouldn't have used the term "destroyed" but I do think some people want to effectively remove the halfling as we know it from the game. As far as popularity, what threshold do we need? According to the best numbers we have they're between 5-6% of the PCs played. That's actually quite good considering how many races are available.
To me, this seems like “an argument to the status quo”. The 538 article from 2017 (from where we are both pulling numbers) doesn’t control for the vast majority of races that you have to pay to use. So it is disingenuous to say that halflings are 5%-6% of all races played as if they are on an even footing with tabaxi that are only available if the player purchases Volo’s (a book that is otherwise very DM facing).
It also treats the core races as if they were the same as other races. People who distinguish them have pointed out reasons why that might not be the case: halflings get two subraces (compared to 1 for dragonborn, half-orcs and half-elves). Most D&D board games and adjacent media feature one of each core race and maybe one extra character. Simple inertia likely boosts the original core races as well.
But back to the 5-6% figure. According to the 538 article, the halfling is the least played race of the core races. The next least played? Dwarves with more than 50% MORE players than halflings! Halflings are a niche race. I think even those in favour of the status quo admit that.
@Chaosmancer ‘s argument seems to be that if halflings don’t want to remain a niche race, they should be changed. Or, they could be treated like the niche race they are and not included as one of the core 4.
Saying that you generally don’t play tieflings is obscuring the issue. From 538, it appears that tieflings are LESS of a niche race than halflings, despite having traditionally less promotion.
It seems to me that there is never a shortage of people arguing to maintain the status quo, despite the fact that the status quo does not reflect the extraordinary change in our hobby in the last 5 years. I think that is the shame.
I also think that more recent WotC books are starting to reflect these changes. Tasha’s, Rime of the Frostmaiden, Candlekeep Mysteries and Van Ricten’s Guide to Ravenloft seem to have more art and more NPCs that are tieflings, full-blooded orcs and dragonborn.
I believe that WotC probably has pretty up to date stats about which races are played (I know I would if I were them). I suspect that this will influence which races are included in the future PHB. And I hope WotC ignores those who claim that changes to the PHB line-up are the work of “haters” or that by making changes, WotC “destroyed” certain lineages.