That's what most IDEs are. VS Code doesn't have any native integrations. Everything is provided by plugins. The default plugins that ship with VS Code can be disabled, and you'll have just a powerful text editor.

(To do this, go to Extensions tab, click the filter icon, select "Built-in", and go down the list to disable all of them. Or just build a version with no built-in plugins.)

No offense intended here - But why is this being upvoted?

vim absolutely is an IDE if that is how you want to use it. Syntax highlighting, linter, language specific autocomplete, integrated sed/regex. And much, much more.

It literally has a built in scripting language.

In case of a house fire, I'd only escape with two things: my cat and my .vimrc

I guess it depends on if you're the type of person who sees VSCode as an IDE or just a text editor.

Vim is effectively the same way.

Vim absolutely chews through anything you throw at it. Lots of times we need data formated or lots of SQL queries and I'm the go to guy because I understand vim macros.

Especially if you have any form of RSI.

I wonder if it would be possible to make a user accessable way to expose similar power to the common user.

Not really, or that doesn't feel right to my. Word and notepad basically still do the same thing except for that word lets you add style.

Like a manual vs an automatic car, maybe?

Church of Emacs is always there ;)