2000ms isn’t network latency, it’s the db query. Moving a slow query from the cloud (high compute, fast network under your control) to the client (low compute, unreliable network, not under your control) is not going to make it faster and you’ve damaged reliability. All to save 50ms network latency.

I'm not saying local first will help or hinder UI latency, merely that UI latency is indeed a valid evaluation criteria for software.