it’s disheartening to watch people wish misfortune and misery on those that think differently than themselves, that’s what i’m trying to express.

What's disheartening is that you want to handwave away the damage this man has caused as "thinking differently." This is the sort of false equivalence that nets you the other comment you received, which you bemoaned as some sort of "learning experience". Wringing your hands about "both sides" is worse than an empty platitude when one side is actively trying to dismantle civil rights, among other things.

Something I've noticed - folks who do this only do it in threads where left-leaning people or US democrats are angry. Will you be the first person to prove me wrong on that? Are you in some maga thread somewhere telling them to be a little nicer, too?