Definitely terrifying and can be surprising, but I think it's easier to demonize unfamiliar groups than to demonize a well-known one. I think demonizing and dehumanizing relies on some degree of the unknown to make all the hysteria and fear plausible. If the group is well known by the general public, it's easier to say "now wait a minute, I happen to know many trans people and they're very kind." It creates a strong base of informed allies to speak up on the group's behalf. It's not impossible to demonize a well-known group, I just believe it's easier when your target has no personal interactions to check against the fear mongering.

Even worse than the demonizing is how they dehumanize trans people. Don't get me wrong, demonizing a group is bad, but dehumanizing is so much worse.

I learned this lesson during a trip to the Holocaust Museum in DC. I walked through one of the train cars and tried to picture fitting as many people in there as the plaque said were crammed in. I couldn't. Then, I realized that I was trying to fit people in the car. Even though these were imaginary people existing solely in my head, I was still treating them like people. I switched to trying to cram that many human shaped objects in the car and realized it was easy to do.

The right is pushing dehumanization of people they don't like. Once you've accepted a group of people as "not human," all sorts of horrible options open up to deal with them.