Transphobia, and harming trans people of any age IS a major tent pole of the Christo-Facists movement. You have no idea, I live in a small town with a lot of trumpers, and they NEED to tell you how much they hate trans people with alarming frequency.
His whole strategy revolves around whipping people into a cultish fervor.
What is the base Republican voter?
A fucking moron, religious fundamentalist.
Why appeal to them?
Because they are very influential, very loyal, very, very easily swayed by the creation of an uberenemy, and they have their own apparatus for repeating the message (fundamentalist TV/Radio/WebCast preachers).
The LA Times is acting like Trump should have some kind of 'rational' strategy.
This is a stupid assumption.
He's not Mitt Romney, He's not John McCain.
He's a fascist, fascist rhetoric is all demonization, little to no actual logic behind the rhetoric.
the whole culture war (like transgender/feminism) is just a scapegoat for economy. they knew people are anxious about economy so they need something to direct all those blames. because all they would do for the economy is the exact oppossite: shit like untax the rich, deregulation, cancelling wellfare program, privatize healthcare, all of which will worsen people's anxious about economy/future.