It’s tied in to the broad cultural narrative that Republicans create and reinforce through their media, which is designed for the purpose of transforming economic anxiety into anger at minorities. The trans community can be said to be collateral, since the Republicans don’t directly (keyword here) blame them for the state of the economy, but they represent the perception of “elites” who are culturally strange and different. The entire conservative narrative is about making the economic cultural. Bigotry is deliberately fueled by displaced anger. The anger must come from somewhere.