AUSTIN — President Barack Obama on Friday, weighing in on the controversial candidacy of Donald Trump, ridiculed the so-called "Republican establishment" for being "shocked" by the billionaire's rise to presidential frontrunner.

Trump, Obama said, is a monster they created.

"Now all of a sudden they’re shocked that there’s gambling going on in the establishment," Obama said at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. "What’s happening in this primary is just a distillation of what’s been happening in their party for more than a decade."

Obama also recalled his own run-ins with Trump, who questioned a few years ago whether Obama was eligible to be president due to his birthplace.

"This is the guy who was sure that I was born in Kenya, who just won’t let it go, and all this same Republican establishment, they we’re saying nothing," Obama said. "As long as it was directed at me, they were fine with it. It was a hoot."

The fundraiser, which was held at Austin Music Hall, is part of a daylong trip to the city by the president that ends later Friday evening with another fundraiser.