McCarthy's kowtowing to the MAGA extremists is obviously not working, because they don't want The House to work. But those 21 votes are not at all necessary to elect a Speaker. Every elected House member gets to vote: So all it takes is some moderate Republican to go to the Democrats and make some agreements about power sharing, and they would have all the votes they need (mostly Democratic) to become the Speaker. We are actually seeing something more like a European Parliament, with multiple Parties. If you can't form a winning coalition on the Right, somebody will form a winning coalition on the Left. (Or in this case, the Moderates of both Parties.)
And that would serve the idiots who voted for those bozos right. Imagine having a Speaker who wanted to govern instead of grandstand! How about Mitt Romney?
| 
