[Wowfunhappy]

I don't think it does at all!

> The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make it as readable as possible. The idea is that a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions.

https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/

Using some semantic HTML as an occasional escape hatch is perfectly in line with this overall goal.

[what]

> without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions.

From your own quote. Embedding html absolutely violates the spirit.

[masklinn]

That’s for the markdown content.

HTML embedding as an escape was built in Gruber’s markdown from the start, and is part of why markdown is simple bordering on simplistic: https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#html