(06-29-2018 09:26 AM)solohawks Wrote:  Here's the thing. GOP could always jam through the nominee in the lame duck period should the gamble not pay off.

Would set a TERRIBLE precedent, but it's an option

First off all, a 50-49 majority would be politically incapable of pulling off a stunt like that. Secondly, it would have a devastating impact in the polls for the party that tried it — including the president, the senators, and the judicial nominee. If I believed it was a true, full-scale national emergency, I might support such an effort in spite of those negative consequences. But we’re nowhere close to that right now.

Trump is going to just nominate someone that will hold all 50 GOP votes, plus Manchin and maybe 1 or 2 others. The vote will be in late September, and that will be the end of it.