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For the past several months, California Democrats have been in a bind of their own making. Fortunately for them, Donald Trump decided on Monday to step in with a helping hand.

Here was the dilemma. None of the many candidates to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom—including Rep. Eric Swalwell, billionaire donor Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Health and Human Services Secretary and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and others—have been able to break from the pack. And since it is quite a loaded pack, it has presented Republicans with an opportunity in a state where Democrats outweigh them roughly 2-to-1. Under California’s nonpartisan primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November. With so many Democratic candidates diluting the Democratic vote, there was a real possibility that the top two primary finishers could both be Republicans.

This is not a new fear altogether for Democrats in California elections. It’s a dynamic the party has regularly dealt with in congressional and state legislative races since the top-two system was implemented in 2012. But it is a fresh sight in governor’s races, after Gov. Jerry Brown served eight years and then seamlessly handed the baton to Newsom for another eight. Concerns about Democrats getting “locked out” rarely actually end in Democrats getting Democrats getting locked out, and the party had tools available to them to resolve the situation before the June 2 primary.

What state Democrats may not have been expecting, though, was for President Trump to do that work for them.

On Monday, Trump endorsed Republican candidate Steve Hilton, a British-born policy adviser and former Fox News host. Hilton had been splitting........

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