But on one point, at least, there seems to be widespread consensus: All of them believe they’re already doing everything they can within reason to hold the president accountable—and they fiercely reject any argument to the contrary.

One senior GOP aide, for example, described the outrage over Russia’s election meddling, as well as allegations of collusion, as “a lot of partisan noise” generated by opportunistic Democrats. “Is there a cybersecurity issue here that needs to be taken more seriously? Absolutely. But,” he added with a scoff, “democracy is not dying in darkness.”

Like many of his colleagues, the aide expressed profound annoyance when I asked him if there would ever come a time when Republicans turn on Trump. “What does that even mean? What do you expect us to do?” he replied. “I hear this with every little Tweet [from Trump]: ‘Oh, when are Republicans going to put an end to this?’ What do you want us to do, seize his Twitter account?” The best that can be hoped for from congressional Republicans, he argued, is transparency. “When Trump does something we disagree with, we’ll disagree with him. When Trump’s interests align with ours, we’ll work with him. That’s the situation we’re in.”

Another longtime GOP aide expressed genuine bafflement at critics who say Republicans are letting Trump off the hook by working to advance the White House’s domestic legislative agenda. “I don’t understand that at all,” the aide told me. “Just because you criticize [Trump] on Russia, that doesn’t mean you suddenly support Obamacare.”

Plenty of Republican lawmakers have publicly condemned Russia for interfering with the 2016 election—and a few have even explicitly raised concerns about the Trump campaign’s alleged involvement in that effort. But Democrats and NeverTrump conservatives say lip service isn’t enough. In their view, the possibility that Trump won the presidency in part because his campaign worked with a foreign adversary to sway the election is so scandalous—and such a threat to the democratic process—that it demands urgent, bipartisan action.

If Republicans wanted to take this seriously, Trump’s opponents argue, there are plenty of concrete steps available to them. They could start issuing subpoenas more aggressively; stall legislation and block nominees until they get answers from the administration; support the resolutions of inquiry in the House; and hold regular press conferences updating the public on the status of their investigations.

They could, in other words, approach the Russia probe with the same dogged resolve they showed when they were investigating Benghazi. Of course, a Republican Congress waging a crusade like that against a Republican president would be extraordinary and largely unprecedented. But Democrats contend that this is an extraordinary situation that it deserves an unprecedented response.