Even if McCarthy wins and ends up Speaker, he would be utterly at the whim of the GOP Nutjob Caucus. At that point, why bother? The chances of him remaining Speaker for all that long are slim, the chances of him getting anything done are slimmer yet, and a parade of stupid anti-Biden hearings will play well with the Fox News crowd but have proven to be electoral poison already. What's the point for him beyond temporary power?
That's not how the House of Representatives works, though.
The Rules of the House govern particularly what rank and file like these holdouts can do, which is part of why they're fighting so hard right now.
They know that once a Speaker is elected, they've lost a ton of their influence in the chamber, as the Rules kick in to restrain them.
