There is no such thing as "monumental fuckups." There is nothing here except attempts to create delay both by public smear campaign and by legal maneuvers.
There is no "if" to "Democrats gambling." Of course they are. They hope to win majority in the House and have certain strategies predicated upon that outcome.
There is no merit to what the FBI is "supposed to do."
Republicans could vote on the nomination tomorrow. They could have voted on it a week ago. The reason they don't has about as much to do with their own political maneuvering as anything Democrats are doing. If Republicans don't want to be seen pushing an undesirable nominee through then they should drop him and get Trump to nominate someone else.
Last week was one such fuckup. They insisted on a public hearing that was unnecessary and it ended up showing their nominee as an ill-tempered political stooge and did nothing to alleviate the allegations.