Yes, I was not clear enough… I was referring specifically to the slurs here. They are not planning their every move, they have a goal to mount an autocratic government and that brings nasty people out into the public.

On that note they do not even need to “test the waters”; the population of the USA already handed them over all the power they could ever need. Short of massive protest and a Nation wide strike, what was left of Democracy in the USA is completely over.

They are not testing the waters, there isn’t a plan. They are just bigots doing hateful things

You are right in that there may be escalation because sooner than later these assholes will realize Trans people are so few as to be invisible to them, they’ll once again see their own lives are pitiful and move onto hate someone else just to feel good about themselves for a hot minute