That sounds pretty entitled.

Nobody will help them "hold the line". The damage to them personally would be immense. If you have a family, or any other responsibilities (like your own health and well-being) there's only one wise thing to do: leave.

At the end, only surviving counts.

They're resigning at the point they would be fired anyway.

It's not entitlement, it's doing the right thing for as long as you can.

I know in the private sector if fired you can pretty much lie if ever asked and odds are no one will find out.

Probably different for government jobs. They will know if you've been fired from a government job. And once you are institutionalized as a beauracrat it can be hard to work elsewhere. You would basically be restarting your career from scratch.

And if they know, so what? The mere fact of being fired for doing the right thing will wreck your life?