Kavanaugh is reportedly 'too big to fail now.' But if he does, GOP might keep Supreme Court seat vacant until 2021.

The White House doesn't have a Plan B if Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination falls short in the Senate, Jonathan Swan reports at Axios. "He's too big to fail now," a senior source involved in the confirmation process told Axios. "Our base, our voters, our side, people are so mad." The White House doesn't have a backup nominee vetted, Swan reports, it doesn't want to rush through another male nominee in case he has his own "Kavanaugh problem," and two sources say they believe the woman on President Trump's short list, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, might be "too conservative" on abortion for Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

So what happens if Kavanaugh comes up short? "If Kavanaugh doesn't make it, it all depends on the midterms," one source with "direct knowledge" of Trump's thinking tells Swan. If Republicans "hold the Senate, okay, regroup, put somebody up next year or maybe end of this year. But if he doesn't make it and the Senate flips, I think it's 4-4 for next two years." Trump "needs to run on polarization and the court in 2020," the source explained. Former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon told Politico the same thing. "There's no walking this thing back," Bannon said Sunday night. "You get Kavanaugh, you're going to get turnout. You get turnout, you're going to get victory. This is march or die.”

A prolonged 4-4 Supreme Court, as happened when Senate Republicans sat on former President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland, would be preferable to Trump nominating a candidate acceptable to Democrats, a White House official tells Swan. Trump sees seating a strict conservative like Kavanaugh "as a fundamental promise," the official said. Democrats "are not going to be rewarded for this. He's not going to undercut allies and reward enemies."

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