Schumer is certainly working on Collins and Murkowski. If McCain dies before the vote on the nominee, and Cindy McCain is appointed to his seat, she may join Collins and Murkowski in voting with the Democrats to hand Trump a defeat. Flake and Corker will likely pile on to hand Trump a major defeat.
McConnell, unlike Schumer and Reid before him on the Democrat side, has proven time after time he will not use the dirt he has on members of the GOP caucus to hold them in line for crucial votes.
If Trump loses the Supreme Court vote, expect the Democrats and Republican defectors to keep any Trump federal judge appointments from happening until the elections. If the GOP fails to increase its majority in the Senate in November Murkowski, Collins, and possibly Cindy McCain will be the swing votes and most powerful Senators. The press and the Democrats will love having three GOP female Senators blocking the conservative agenda. Effectively they will be a female “gang of 3”. If the GOP loses the Senate, Schumer will be picking judges for Trump’s last two years. Otherwise, no federal judges will be approved.
In many ways Mitch McConnell is the second most powerful elected official in Washington. He controls the legislative agenda, blocking conservative legislation from the House and allowing GOP members to freely join with the Democrats to strike down key initiatives of the president (Obamacare repeal for example).
We’re seeing the situation in almost identical ways. There’s reason to fear that the situation spins out of control, any guidance or restraint from political parties breaks down, and we end up with a full-blown resurrection. The Republicans who hate us are way too confident about their ability to stop it from reaching the tipping point. The Democrats with radical crazy ideas are way too confident that implementation of them wouldn’t cause chaos.