Second Thought:

I also hear regularly that we should remove toxic people from our lives, which I completely agree with.

I think an important distinction here is that the person in your story was saying to eliminate people who disagree with you, which can happen without ANY dysfunction or toxic behavior.

We can engage with others and disagree over values, beliefs, assumptions, and interpretations, while still maintaining open and cordial communications, mutual respect, and listening without necessarily agreeing with or supporting another's ideas.

We can live with each other without agreeing with each other, but when we go to our corners, our lives are diminished, except in the case mentioned above of toxic behavior.

John