So let's say Kavanaugh goes down. Which is fairly likely. Just need 2 of Collins/Murkowski or Flake/Corker to vote against him. That's 2 women and 2 anti-Trump GOPers. Hell, there's even a chance that this doesn't even get to a vote. Or the committee vote is against Kav.
And then IF the Dems take the Senate, how will things play out?
Could they actually refuse to consider any Trump nominee for the next 2+ years? Tell Trump that they will only vote for Merrick Garland and no one else? Give Trump a list of centrist candidates that both parties could vote for, and not too far off from Kennedy (a center-right type anyway)?
Republicans would confirm their nominee during the lame-duck session, though there is some question as tho how long that would take. If, for example, they nominated him or her (who are we kidding, him) after the November election, it would be tight.
Which makes the GOP insistence on Kavanaugh that much more noteworthy. Plenty of reliably conservative judges out there. Presumably, many of them without a potential criminal offense on their record. But they badly want the political operative they have been grooming for years on the court, and as McConnell says, will ram him through. Whatever the risk.