I'm not really an expert but my understanding is that the stabilizer will always out-muscle the elevator due to the physics of their respective positions on the aircraft.
In yet another change in the MAX series, there used to be what was called an aft column cutout switch which did more or less what it sounds like: engage when the stick was pulled back, cutting out autopilot commands to the stabilizer, so that it never attempted to outmuscle the pilot's input commands to the elevator.
This was removed in the MAX. Possibly this was to meet certification requirements: if the MCAS was needed to push down on the nose to meet the requirement that "During the approach to the stall, the longitudinal control pull force should increase continuously as speed is reduced from the trimmed speed to the onset of stall warning." If the MAX tends to pitch nose up at a certain point, the MCAS is intended to create a counter force against the pilots commands as it approaches that, rather than have the pilot pulling back at some point suddenly buck the nose upwards, then the MCAS needs to be active when the pilot is pulling back on the stick.
But it does argue that a LOT more thought needed to go into MCAS failure modes if it was necessary for it not to be cut out when the pilot is operating elevators.
In yet another change in the MAX series, there used to be what was called an aft column cutout switch which did more or less what it sounds like: engage when the stick was pulled back, cutting out autopilot commands to the stabilizer, so that it never attempted to outmuscle the pilot's input commands to the elevator.
This was removed in the MAX. Possibly this was to meet certification requirements: if the MCAS was needed to push down on the nose to meet the requirement that "During the approach to the stall, the longitudinal control pull force should increase continuously as speed is reduced from the trimmed speed to the onset of stall warning." If the MAX tends to pitch nose up at a certain point, the MCAS is intended to create a counter force against the pilots commands as it approaches that, rather than have the pilot pulling back at some point suddenly buck the nose upwards, then the MCAS needs to be active when the pilot is pulling back on the stick.
But it does argue that a LOT more thought needed to go into MCAS failure modes if it was necessary for it not to be cut out when the pilot is operating elevators.