We are at war, and Republicans are asleep at the wheel. In the past several years, Russia has mounted a war of disinformation on Western liberal democracy. It has become clear that Kremlin meddling extends far beyond the 2016 U.S. presidential election; it is an all-out assault on the West.

The same toxic combination of fake news websites, social media bots, and Twitter trolls that influenced the U.S. election were deployed with resounding success during Britain’s Brexit referendum. These same Russian bots are now being used to tip the French presidential election in favor of Marine Le Pen of the National Front, a far-right party of Holocaust-deniers and xenophobes.

Russia’s objective is clear: splinter Western alliances and destroy liberal democracy while expanding Russia’s influence in the world. With Britain pulling out of the European Union, and Le Pen’s promise, if elected, to hold a referendum on France’s status in the EU, the future of the political and economic entity has never been so precarious. Western democracy hangs in the balance.

Destroying Western alliances seems to be a talent of President Trump, Putin’s favored candidate. His first 100 days in office have been marred by policies seemingly designed to alienate allies. Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump raged against NATO, deriding the alliance formed to defend against Soviet Union aggression as “obsolete”.

Our European allies are so rattled by Trump’s behavior that Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, recently listed the United States, alongside Russia, China, and terrorism, as among the main external threats to the EU.

Putin couldn’t be more delighted. In the Kremlin’s chess game on the world stage, Trump is a pawn, and we are all getting played. Trump’s incredible, against-all-odds ascension to the presidency stunned observers both at home and abroad.

On the night of the election, American intelligence intercepted high-ranking Russian officials celebrating Trump’s win, congratulating themselves on their successful campaign of cyber warfare.

Warfare. In the starkest terms, Russia hacked our democracy. This is an act of war. Russia weaponized information to destabilize our electoral process, and the result was a direct attack on democracy, our most sacred and founding principle.

This is not mere rhetoric. Andrew Andersen, a Russian-born security analyst at the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military and Strategic Studies said in a recent MIT Technology Review article, “The first thing you need to understand is that this is a war… This is not a joke and not a game of any kind. It’s not ‘socializing with your friends on social networks’—it’s a real war.”

At a time when our country is under attack and our democracy imperiled, the willful inaction of Republicans is astonishing. Their refusal to comprehensively investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia is both a breathtaking level of partisanship and a dangerous flirtation with treason. By impeding serious inquiry into Russia’s act of war and the Trump team’s probable collusion with the hostile state, Republicans have put party over country.

It gets worse. In a recent report from The Daily Beast, three individuals close to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation say that “more than three months after the committee announced that it had agreed on the scope of the investigation, the panel has not begun substantially investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia”.

Reportedly, the investigation is moving at a slower pace than previous Senate Intelligence Committee investigations, including the CIA torture inquiry, which took years to complete.

Stunningly, the investigation does not have a single full-time staffer. Of the seven part-time staffers, none have significant investigative or prosecutorial experience, and most do not have a background in Russia expertise. Because none of the staffers have been assigned to the investigation full-time, they must split their time with other oversight duties, preventing full immersion in the probe. Incredibly, one of the seven staffers even attends law school part-time.

In a stark contrast, previous Senate and House investigations were fielded by a far greater number of staffers. The Joint Senate and House Committee that investigated the Iran-Contra affair had 181 staffers dedicated to uncovering the truth. One of the seven committees that investigated the Benghazi terror attack was staffed by 46 individuals. To reiterate, the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference and probable collusion has seven part-time staffers.

If Senate Republicans were serious about investigating this act of war and probable collusion, they would dedicate a full-time staff to the probe. They would schedule interviews with Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner. So far, they haven’t. How long can we wait to respond to an unprecedented attack on our democracy?

It’s not as if Republicans are averse to investigations. In fact, they are well-practiced, using those seven Benghazi committees to churn out 800 page reports after years-long House and Senate investigations. Republicans were so persistent in their alleged pursuit of justice that the House alone held 33 hearings on Benghazi, subjecting Hillary Clinton to 11 hours of questioning. Let’s see if Trump has such stamina.

The hypocrisy of Republicans is appalling. History will not remember the GOP for their principled stand against a foreign power’s attack on our democracy. They will not be revered for putting country over party in a brave pursuit of truth and justice.

No, Republicans will be remembered for their cowardice and for their treason. Where were you when the greatest country on earth was attacked? Who will defend democracy? Where are the patriots?

In this time of uncertainty, there is solace in the words of Thomas Paine, whose call for American independence from a foreign adversary so inspired George Washington that he ordered it to be read to troops at Valley Forge. As we face attacks to our democracy both at home and abroad, there is a renewed urgency to his enduring words.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman… Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Thomas Paine, Crisis I