To Elaborate

To build on the post below, Democrats - and especially the activist base - need to understand that there really isn't much that Democrats can do to stop Trump from placing someone on the Court.  Harriet Myers suggests that there might be a nominee that is too incompetent or extreme, even for the current iteration of the GOP.  I don't think we have to worry about Judge Jeannine Pirro.  Trump has usually defered to the professional Republicans with court appointments, and I imagine he will select some "safe" Federalist Society judge like Gorsuch. 

So...unless Trump nominates Jared Kushner to the Supreme Court, I don't think Democrats can do much to stop it.  And everyone needs to understand that going in.  As Josh Marshall and Theda Skocpol note, it will define HOW you fight it.  It is tiresome to listen to online activists whinge about the ineffectiveness of Democrats in Congress.  There is literally nothing they can do. 

When we think about the calamity of 2016...and the various levels of vituperation visited on Clinton's head, remember this.  Russ Feingold lost Wisconsin by 3.36%.  Online star, Jason Kander lost Missouri by 3.1%.  Deborah Ross lost North Carolina by 5.8%.  Katie McGinty lost Pennsylvania by 1.7%.  If the Democrats had won any of those races, we would be having a very different discussion now.  But they didn't.  And these were not "DC establishment Dems" kowtowing to Wall Street.  These were challengers. 

Republicans won, at least in part, because some of the Obama Coalition stayed home. They won, at least in part, because the mushy middle wanted to change party control in DC - without really engaging in what that might mean. 

The consequences of that are being visited upon us now.  In every election since November 2016, Democrats have outperformed expectations.  Win or lose, they have done better than they "should" in every race. 

If Democrats define the fight over Kennedy's replacement in the wrong way, they risk creating a backlash and ennui that could spill over into November.  Conversely, as Skocpol notes, if they blow up the Senate to prevent it from happening, they immediately mobilize a fairly disspirited Republican base. 

Everything depends on November, 2018, because everything got screwed up in November, 2016.  The tangible consequences that we are seeing now is the shifting of the Supreme Court to the far right. 

Also, please stop talking about the "McConnell Rule."  Jesus, what an own goal.  Cory Booker was on TV saying that Trump should not be allowed to pick a justice who will rule on important issues surrounding Trump's own legal jeopardy.  THAT is the tack to take.  It won't work, but neither will invoking the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell, which everyone knows about anyway.

Knowing that you will likely lose the fight over Gorsuch 2.0 defines how you fight and what you expect to win.  What you are playing for is control of the Senate and House, not the Supreme Court seat.