Seasons greetings!

I noticed a noise in the front of my 1998 E320 4-matic last night. I removed the belt and found the water pump/fan pulley wobbles. Looks like the pump is shot.

A couple of questions:

Years ago, I replaced the H20 pump on a 300TD, but I don't remember how it failed. From my youth, I'm more used to older American cars, where the water pump fails by way of the bronze shaft bushing, dumping all your coolant on the ground and resulting in an overheat.

1. Is this car safe to drive another day? Could there be a catastrophic failure if I do?

2. My manual says the 36 mm shaft nut is "right hand thread," which tells me I need to turn it counter-clockwise (looking from front to rear) while holding the pully in place by 3 of the pulley mounting bolts. Because it's Sunday, and because I'm cheap, I made two tools to do this. Both tools ended up bending. That sucker is really tight. Could I be turning it the wrong way?

3. Can the water pump be removed with the pulley installed? I can't see any pump mounting bolts behind it, and it seems like it might be easier to remove the pulley on the work bench.

Thanks in advance.