As President Donald Trump prepares to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time as commander in chief, Washington is being reminded of a moment many in the political class probably wish had aged a little differently.

Back in 2011, then-President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers took aim at Trump during the annual dinner, turning him into the punchline of the night. At the time, it was treated like just another round of inside-the-Beltway humor—because, of course, Washington “knew better.”

Obama joked that Trump could now focus on “important issues” like conspiracy theories, tossing in references to the moon landing, Roswell, and even Biggie and Tupac. The crowd laughed. The media laughed. The establishment laughed. You get the picture.

What they didn’t realize? They might’ve been laughing at the one guy who would completely flip their world upside down just a few years later.

At the time, Trump had been outspoken about the release of Obama’s birth certificate, which was indeed made public that same year by the State of Hawaii. The exchange only highlighted the already growing tension between Trump and the political elite—a divide that was clearly deeper than many wanted to admit.

In the years that followed, speculation grew that those very public jabs may have played a role in pushing Trump toward a presidential run. Trump himself later dismissed that idea, saying there were many reasons behind his decision to run, and that moment wasn’t one of them.

Still, it’s hard to ignore the irony.

What was meant to be a night of ridicule turned into a flashpoint in modern political history. The same establishment that once dismissed Trump as a joke would soon find itself facing a candidate—and then a president—they never saw coming.

And now, as Trump returns to that very stage, it’s not as the punchline—but as the main figure in a story that continues to prove one thing: underestimate him at your own risk.