Trump is an American Julius Caesar. Voting for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will save us from him

Joseph W. Beaver is a recent graduate from the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, where he spent a semester at the Ohio Statehouse. Raised in Ravenna, he studied political science and political economy at Ashland University.

Ohio Democrats and “Chamber of Commerce Republicans" must vote for Robert F. Kennedy.

The Ohio House paints a picture of the three effective political parties in the Buckeye State: Democrats, Chamber of Commerce Republicans and social issue MAGA Republicans.

As of now, President Donald Trump will win Ohio. The Real Clear Politics average has Trump +10.7.

While closing that gap is remotely possible, it is simply not worth the investment from President Joseph Biden’s caretakers. Money would be more effectively spent on re-electing Sen. Sherrod Brown and investing in Michigan.

My Republican Party is gone. America will follow under Trump.

Thus, Ohio has already been ceded to Trump by the Democratic National Convention, desperately propping up a flailing, senile President who has no intention of passing the torch.

The DNC was perfectly happy abandoning former Rep. Tim Ryan, who, in all fairness, had the best shot at flipping blue a Senate seat, as a champion of Youngstown steel.

Vote for Bobby

On top of this, Biden cannot escape the public relations atrocity of failing to come to the state after the Norfolk Southern railroad crash that contaminated East Palestine as well as other parts of Ohio. When citizen Trump visited instead, he almost certainly secured for himself a victory that Ohio Democrats cannot overcome with Biden.

As of now, a Biden vote in November will mean nothing within the Electoral College.

What can be done by the Ohioan, panicked about an American Julius Caesar who has nothing left to lose?

Vote for Bobby.

MAGA Republicans cannot win without their “Chamber of Commerce” cousins. Ohio House Democrats knew this when they made coalitions to elect the last two House speakers.

The last two governors prioritized economic issues over social concerns. Gov. Mike DeWine has only passed social priorities as a concession, or had his vetoes overridden. Those governors represent the Ohio electorate at-large.

The coalition that can be made in the Ohio House can be replicated in the presidential race.

Ohio conservatives whose policy aligns with that of the Buckeye Institute are fearful of a 10% tariff on all imports which will spike inflation higher and reduce consumer spending in an economy already on the brink of recession from high interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

While Austrian economics may play a quiet role on the right, it does account for a substantial Ohio voting bloc.

Prisoner’s dilemma not good enough

This voting bloc still includes followers of former Gov. John Kasich and the Tea Party movement that elected him in 2010. Remember, Gov. Kasich won his home-state primary in 2016, despite a Trump wave on Super Tuesday.

Those Republicans did not simply disappear. Reluctant support in one cycle is still that: reluctant. If given a better choice, this bloc would choose differently.

What exists for this bloc, and for Ohio Democrats who want their votes to matter, is a prisoner’s dilemma: Vote for the horrible candidate that will do less harm to your interests than the other.

There is a different way to play this game. Bobby Kennedy does not become the president simply by winning Ohio. Instead, you have removed Electoral College votes from the inevitable victor: Trump.

This can be done by championing a true environmentalist in Kennedy, who knows how to work the system to ensure that an East Palestine disaster never happens again.

Joseph W. Beaver is a recent graduate from the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, where he spent a semester at the Ohio Statehouse. Raised in Ravenna, he studied political science and political economy at Ashland University.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Between Biden and Trump, Ohio must vote for RFK Jr. in election