Fun fact: since all appointees serve at the the pleasure of the President, all Secretaries and under Secretaries write a letter of resignation dated on the day the new President is sworn in. It’s up to the new President if they’re accepted or not.

Republicans know they cannot go above 46-47% in popular vote, and cannot win what is essentially a two-person race with that support. A Republican nominee has received above 48% only once after 1988 (GW Bush in 2004). Only way to win the EC without PV win is for third party candidates to get support in key battleground states like Nader in 2000 and Johnson-Stein in 2016.