In Republican political ads this election year, there is a scapegoat no matter the topic. The same scapegoats—often trans people, immigrants, or both—are blamed for incredibly divergent issues. The ads paint the scapegoated group as a menace that Democrats have unleashed. And while scapegoating itself is nothing new, what’s striking about this election cycle is how the scapegoats have become more prominent, in many ads, than the issues or even than the candidates.   Some of these ads recycle