I guess he meant it as "I don't want the result of having no friends" whereas I read it as "I don't want this thing, also, I have no friends".Maybe I'm autistic but I don't see a contradiction between having a lot of friends and not wanting to lose them over petty bullshit. I suppose you should be able to talk openly with friends but people these days can be pretty hysteric over small things. Sometimes pragmatism is more important than principles. I still use garbage services like whatsapp or discord because everyone else uses them and I don't want to be the weirdo who asks people to install a separate app so they can talk to me.
I agree with your second point about redpilling people by using the Socratic method and asking the right questions. You can make people think without offending them or dropping edgy takes that make you unpopular in normie social circles. When it comes to verboten stuff like troons or qualitative differences between cultures I would still wait a while and get to know the person I'm talking to since most people aren't open to these topics anyway. As an average dude without aspirations to become an influencer or public figure there isn't really much to be lost. If you work independently there is a risk of being blackballed since many opportunities are reliant on networking with the right people.
From my experience there isn't much fruitful discussion to be had with the average tranny lover. If you bring up their AGP fetish or how HRT poisons their mind they are just gonna preach you some bullshit about tolerance and personal choice because that makes them feel better than thinking about astronomic suicide rates of a poor marginalized group. I rather cuck myself by avoiding these topics and have a more pleasant day instead.