The 19 or 20 members of the Republican Freedom Caucus do not believe that they were elected to govern along with the rest of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. They believe that they were ordained to continually disrupt the US Government in a attempt to make its influence as small as possible.  To do this they are refusing to vote for any Republican for Speaker of the House until they have received enough concessions from that individual to make the speakership almost powerless. There is talk about replacing McCarthy with another candidate, but any individual nominated by the Republicans would have to submit to the same freedom caucus concessions to get their vote.

If any Republican were to submit to all of those concessions in order to become Speaker, the Freedom Caucus members would be able to stop any legislation that they do not favor, such as an attempt to raise the debt limit so that the government can continue to function.  The chaos they are now fermenting would continue for the next two years with this small minority of legislators able to control the entire function of the House of Representative and thus the ability of US government to get anything done legislatively.  

Obviously this is an untenable situation, but there is a solution, though an unpalatable one, which the remaining majority of the Republicans could apply. They could totally marginalize the members of the Freedom Caucus.

However, to do this the Republicans opposed to Freedom Caucus tactics would have to make a deal with the Democrats.  Together with the Democrats they could choose a Republican to become Speaker of the House who would be agreeable to both sides.  The Democrats would then supply enough votes to elect that individual without the votes of the Freedom Caucus. Then, in the future, the House of Representative would be able to approach necessary legislation in a bipartisan manner, legislating as best possible for the American people.

Hey, I know this is a daydream and probably will never happen.  The very thought of Republicans being reduced to needing the Democrats to solve their internal problems is probably a thought that many Republican representatives cannot even contemplate.

However, their alternative is continual disruption by the members of the Freedom Caucus for the next two years which will lead to the assumption by the voting public that the Republican Party cannot properly govern. This would in turn lead to decisive Republican defeats in the 2024 elections.

Cajun (Rick Guilbeau)