Isn’t a simple majority a plurality, so whoever wins the most votes wins? If not, wouldn’t McCarthy have to assume his caucus are all idiots to not know that. Yeah scare tactic if you are dealing with idiots that is why you have to count your votes ahead of time. If all the dems vote Nancy and 5 r vote for someone else or abstain, Nancy gets it, otherwise why would Mccarthy even care, it’s not like someone else is going to get 218 votes by surprise. Ryan had to make sure he had a majority to exceed the number of dems by winning over the freedom caucus, before he held a vote for speaker.
The Speaker requires a majority of the House present and voting. Majority. Not enough to be top vote-getter.