But C++ is an outlier in systems software. Systemd is written in C. Grub is written in C. The Linux kernel is written in C. Firmware is written in C. Sure there are some kernels that use a bit of C++, but it's an outlier, not the norm. C++ never proved the is was so worthwhile to have a higher level language that we should drop everything and write C++. C++ only dominates in performance critical applications where there is a bridge to higher level languages and you're interfacing with software.

The strongest argument for Rust is its safety features. Abstractions have made C++ an unusable mess that even C++ developers complain about on a constant basis.