Ultimately, what it takes for a candidate to walk this political tightrope, if that is even possible, is to reject Trump at the same time as you endorse, with no reservations, nearly every policy Trump stands for. The challenge, should one accept it as their only option, is to separate MAGA from Trump. Because the primary goals of MAGA are sound. They rest on several broad and coherent planks: Controlled, merit-based immigration. Fair, reciprocal trade with other nations. Pragmatic energy and infrastructure policies that balance the needs of people and the environment. Colorblind merit over mandated quotas based on race and gender. Law and order. More accountability and common sense in public education and less politicized curricula. And maintaining strategic and technological supremacy instead of engaging in regime change wars all over the world.

Those were Trump’s policies during his first presidency. They hold up to scrutiny. They are coherent. In the hands of the right U.S. Senate candidate, they are winning planks to loudly proclaim, even in California. A Machiavellian Democratic political consultant will effectively use Trump to stigmatize MAGA. But they cannot use MAGA, when it is accurately and resolutely articulated, to stigmatize every other Republican candidate on the ballot.