> He's a fairly toxic human being and I have no idea why people love him.

You've answered your own question.

Give it an honest good faith attempt to understand why people might like someone, and you'll probably find some sort of virtue. If you're cemented in your reality bubble and starting off with "he's a fairly toxic human" than you're not going to go anywhere.

I think your guess would be wrong too. Hacker news is still insulated enough that overly simplistic comments will down voted regardless of ideologically alignment.