“You’re claiming he’s in this generation, i.e. alive, and at the same time, that he’s not alive, but can be moshiach even though he’s not alive”
It’s called hedging their bets. Just in case they’re wrong about him being alive, they can still be right about him being moshiach. Their belief system has so many fail-safes, which is what makes it so impossible to deprogram.
It’s just like the Rambam so clearly says, “l’hatchilah, moshiach should be alive. But, if he dies, b’dieved he can still be moshiach if you believe hard enough.” I’m paraphrasing of course 😉