This leads to a desperation to throw other trans people under the bus as too angry, "going too far," to win acceptance.

McBride's far from alone in this quisling bullshit (Natalie Wynn made her career off it), but as the one trans elected official at the federal level she's a sterling example...

Plenty of them have had to engage with activities, like sex work or the black market, that shock good gentry.

So, the McBrides of the world are desperate to assure the (cis) elites that they're not like the rest of us. They're the "good ones" who'd be just like them if not for that pesky transness.