'If you can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators, I don't think the Russians are going to be too worried!' Obama takes to a Broadway stage to trash GOP presidential candidates

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President Barack Obama launched a no-holds barred attack on the Republican field of presidential candidates on Monday night - and reduced a Broadway theater packed with Democratic donors to fits of laughter with his barbs.

The President has so far refrained from commenting on the field of 15 candidates, but he appeared unable to resist giving his opinion after the much-criticized CNBC debate last week that saw the GOP sever ties with the NBC networks.

Obama mocked the Republican presidential candidates who'd called him weak, and poked fun at what happened at the last GOP debate, saying they 'can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators'.

The debate was widely criticized in Republican circles for not giving the candidates a fair hearing, being too aggressive, straying off the announced topic of economics and finance, and pitting candidates against one another. 

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President Barack Obama left a crowd of more than 1,300 in stitches at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York on at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser following the performance of the hit musical Hamilton about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton

During his bit, Obama poked fun at what happened at the last GOP debate, saying they 'can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators'

Obama, perhaps feeling more free to speak about the election now that Vice President Joe Biden announced that he's not running a presidential campaign, joined in when he compared the chaos to his handling on Vladmir Putin. 

'Let me tell you, if you can't handle those guys, I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you,' he said, according to the Washington Post.

Candidates with lower poll numbers have also expressed anger about being sidelined to less-watched second-tier debates before their higher-polling competitors take the stage. 

The Republican party has since dropped a plan to partner with NBC for a debate on February 26.

Deviating from his typical fundraiser spiel, Obama said the 2016 Republican presidential candidates seem to 'occupy a different reality' in which the country has taken a perilous turn since he took office nearly seven years ago.

'According to them, everything was really good in 2008, when we were going through the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes,' Obama said. 'This, apparently, was the golden age that I messed up.'

'And they're so glum,' Obama added, barely containing his feelings about the GOP cast of characters seeking his job. 'They're really so frustrated.'

Obama said that if the candidates couldn't handle the CNBC moderators, 'I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you'

He also made jokes about the candidates who have called him 'weak' and said the 2016 Republican presidential candidates seem to 'occupy a different reality'

Tweaking Republicans who question climate change, Obama likened it to having 99 out of 100 doctors tell someone they have diabetes and having that person brush it off as a conspiracy.

'All 99 of those doctors got together - with Obama - to try to prevent me from having bacon and doughnuts,' Obama said to laughter in the ornate Times Square theater. 'It'd be funny - except this is about climate change. This was an analogy.'

He recalled incredulously how a GOP senator stood on the floor of the Senate with a snowball to question global warming, and whipped out a phrase perhaps borrowed from one of his daughters.

'I was going to quote [rapper] Kanye [West] but this is a family audience. But that's cray,' he said to the crowd.

As the 2016 race has picked up steam, Obama has largely stayed on the sidelines, only occasionally offering his own commentary. Instead, he's been trying to lay the groundwork for Democrats to make a persuasive economic case in the general election.

Monday's performance drew roughly 1,300 donors who paid between $500 and $10,000 a pop. 

Obama said he was 'annoyed' he hadn't had a chance to see Hamilton again, after taking his daughters to the show this past summer, according to The Hill. 

CNBC moderators who hosted the October 28 debate (pictured) have faced a fierce backlash, with candidates and observers slamming them for being too aggressive and straying off the announced topic

'Michelle and I love this show. It also happens to be the only thing Dick Cheney and I agree on... That is a cultural landmark,' he said to the crowd. 

Obama's jokes hit a nerve with Republicans, who have been critical of the president's handling of Putin. 

Many have said that Obama has been weak and led Putin to expand Russia's influence into Ukraine and Syria. 

But the jokes came just weeks after Obama said that Putin's recent entry into the civil war in Syria is a sign of weakness, not strength, and rejected any suggestion that the Russian president is challenging America's leadership. 

Speaking to CBS's '60 Minutes' reporter Steve Kroft for a segment that was previewed on 'CBS This Morning', Obama said Russian fighter planes and cruise missile strikes in Syria are intended only to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - Putin's only ally in the area.

Though Obama's jokes hit hard on Monday, the Republican presidential candidates have a chance to make a comeback next week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, though, when they take the stage at Fox Business News' debate on November 10.  

Candidtates also claimed that CNBC debate moderators (L-R) John Harwood, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla pitted candidates against one another