Are they cis guys who are attracted to trans women but don't know how to process that in healthy ways so it comes out in transphobia? Are they just transphobes and they get their jollies out of being straight up sicko creeps? Or something else entirely? I'm just curious as to what makes them tick.
There's a type of chaser that legit believes that there aren't enough cis women or cis women with low enough standards to sleep with them THEREFORE transwomen balance this out by increasing the fem population (with a low-self-esteem bonus). Like some other chasers, they think you'll "get" how hard it is to be a guy and sympathize with them.
If anything, transitioning demonstrates to us how easy it is to change and that toxic or incel traits aren't immutable, but that it's your own constant receding into them that makes the rest of you disappear.
Those are some sublime brainworms, the patriarchy really does a number on some men's minds.
Sorry you had to suffer through interacting with those people.