Linus attacks code, not people.

If I say "your code is garbage" would you really say I'm not attacking you? I don't think most people would accept that. The CoC mentions being welcoming, inclusive, respectful, empathetic, not insulting or attacking people or being unprofessional. Linus violates all of those! Of the 10 bullet points there he violates 6 of them!!

IMO this is a big issue with CoCs. They give cowardly justification for arbitrary dictatorial actions. It's much better to admit that it's a dictatorship.

I agree with the rest of your comment - it's clearly worth putting up with his arseholery given how important to the project he is.