Silicon Valley hasn’t been this upset since Elon Musk bought Twitter. And Hollywood hasn’t been this verbose since Quibi’s disastrous debut. Over the past week, following Joe Biden’s ruinous debate with Donald Trump, discontent has surged through both industries, with influential figures and everyday workers alike expressing their frustration and disbelief at Biden’s refusal to step down. The widespread sentiment is that Biden’s defiant decision is not only jeopardizing the political landscape but also threatening the future of the country, with blame pointed in every direction: at Biden himself, at the big tech and Hollywood donors who have enabled him, and at the people in Bidenworld who refuse to press the president to step down—thus risking handing the country back to Trump.

“Every Democrat outside the Beltway knows he’ll lose,” a major Silicon Valley founder told me. “Hilariously, Biden thinks it’s the ‘elites’ who want him out when it appears some of them may be the only ones who want him in!” He added: “Here’s the reality: On Election Day, Trump supporters will vote for Trump in heaps, and previous Biden supporters will stay home, load up on anti-depression meds, and watch the Democrats get blitzed across the ballot.”

Another tech founder who has advised the White House in the past told me it’s clear that Biden’s inner circle is not being honest with anyone, in a cynical attempt to preserve their power and professional standing. “They are selfish, selfish people who have chosen their job over country,” this tech founder told me. A venture capitalist was similarly irate over how Biden and his team of “enablers” were acting. “I genuinely hope he loses in a crushing defeat and the Dems burn for it,” he said, himself a lifelong Democrat. “Cowards stacked on cowards” is how he described the Biden administration and Jill Biden for supporting the president’s behavior since his disastrous debate performance.

Despite the growing backlash, the reality is that the clock is ticking. Even if Biden were to step down, the logistics of finding a replacement candidate who could unite the Democratic base in such a short time frame seems insurmountable, although not impossible—yet. If Biden were to step down, most pundits believe that Kamala Harris would be the nominee, and has a better chance of beating Trump. There’s also the possibility of a mini-primary blitz, where anyone from Pete Buttigieg to “The Rock” could try to take the helm, though it’s unclear if that could happen in such a short time.

One thing is clear: Biden’s staunch refusal to consider stepping aside complicates matters further, leaving the Democratic Party in a precarious position with less than four months until Election Day, and polls that keep surging increasingly toward Trump, which will give an alternative candidate little opportunity to fight back. The VC I spoke with argued that it’s ironic how angry everyone is now when it’s been obvious for so long that Biden wasn’t up for the job.

In Hollywood, industry insiders are largely pointing fingers at influential figures like Jeffrey Katzenberg, who they believe have played a significant role in pushing Biden as the candidate. I personally got into a discussion with Katzenberg over a year ago after Biden had fallen several times on national television, and I opined that it was only going to get worse as Biden grew older. Katzenberg vehemently disagreed with me, saying, “He’s as sharp as I’ve ever seen him in 50 years.” And then shut the conversation down. According to several people in Hollywood I’ve spoken to, I’m not the only person who has gotten into a debate like this with Katzenberg and other big Hollywood donors. When I reached out to Katzenberg to see if his stance had changed since then, he forwarded me on to Biden’s campaign. Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the campaign told me, “Nearly a million Americans donated to our campaign for the first time after the debate, a clear sign that there is strong enthusiasm behind the President as the candidate who can beat Donald Trump.”

The criticism is that these Hollywood bigwigs have prioritized their own access to the candidate over his actual viability. Historically, Hollywood has been a bastion of Democratic support, rallying behind nominees with unwavering enthusiasm (and money). From hosting lavish fundraisers with fancy cocktails, where guests get to rub shoulders with A-list celebrities and studio heads, to helping create impactful campaign ads, Hollywood’s support has been a cornerstone for Democratic campaigns. Stars and executives alike have often aligned themselves with the Party’s nominee, regardless of the candidate’s individual appeal or potential shortcomings. But this time feels different. One award-winning director I spoke with this week joked that Hollywood execs have applied the same strategy to this election cycle that they often do to the industry: “Why would all these donors be upset? It’s an old Hollywood tradition: pump a ton of money into a lifeless product and hope the American people are dumb enough to buy it.” (Ouch!)

Now, this election cycle is seeing a shift. For the first time, prominent figures in Hollywood are publicly calling for the sitting Democratic president to step down in favor of a more electable candidate. There have been public statements by showrunner Damon Lindelof, Ari Emanuel of WME, Reed Hastings of Netflix, and now, one of the most staunch Democratic supporters in Tinseltown, George Clooney, who penned a compassionate but forceful letter to Biden in Wednesday’s New York Times. “We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate,” Clooney wrote. “This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly.” Perhaps the most blunt and to-the-point message came in a tweet from producer Rob Reiner, who wrote: “It’s time to stop fucking around. If the Convicted Felon wins, we lose our Democracy.”

There are a handful of people in Hollywood who still believe Biden should have one last chance to prove to voters that he can gain back their trust. “While it’s nice to see the guy that brought us Quibi be taken to task. At the same time, I don’t see Hollywood necessarily having the solution. Endless amount of people pretending to be experts (last week they were suddenly versed in French and British politics) who are at the epicenter for overreacting too much about nearly everything,” an Academy Award–winning producer told me. “At the end of the day, I’ll support whoever is opposing Trump passionately.”

The only difference so far between the Hollywood and tech elite is that in Hollywood, the dam has broken and countless people are coming out publicly to call for Biden to step aside. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, the major donors and tech titans are largely staying quiet or keeping the course. For example, Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, and a huge donor for Biden and the Democrats, wrote in an email to friends the day after the debate that he was resolute in his support of Biden, even if his performance was “very bad.” “Joe is our nominee; any decision to step aside is up to him and his family, period,” Hoffman argued. “If anything, a public effort might compel the Bidens to try to prove the doubters wrong.”

Many people working under these tech leaders, however, vehemently disagree. One employee who works for a FAANG company was infuriated by the state of the race and said she was “too irate” to comment, other than to say that “Biden refusing to resign from the race is one thousand times worse than Ruth Bader Ginsburg refusing to step down.” Another smaller tech investor said he feels conned: “We were promised a new and improved Trump-disrupting algorithm with an upgrade in Biden, and now they’re trying to shove the equivalent of Windows 95 down our throats, and it’s obviously obsolete.” When I asked this investor who he was voting for, he thought for a minute and said: “Honestly, at this point, I think I’d take Trump over the old broken-down version of Biden that is being forced upon us.”