Zach Gibson/Getty Images(MILWAUKEE) — President-elect Donald Trump appeared in Wisconsin Tuesday to thank supporters and Republican politicians for supporting his bid for the White House — and took a markedly different tone towards House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., with whom he clashed at times during the campaign season.
“I’ve come to appreciate him,” Trump said. “He’s like a fine wine. Every day I appreciate his genius more and more.”
“We’re going to work on that wall, Paul,” he added.
Trump was not expected to win Wisconsin, which before this year, had voted Democratic on the presidential level in every election since 1984.
Tuesday’s rally is the first time Ryan and Trump have appeared in public together. They’ve met in person twice since the election: at Trump Tower last week, and in Washington just days after Trump won the presidency.
Ryan and Trump have worked to mend their relationship in the wake of the presidential election. After a campaign where Ryan called Trump’s comments “racist,” rebuked his proposed Muslim immigration ban and criticized his comments on a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape, the two GOP leaders speak nearly every day.
“We’re fine. We’re not looking back,” Ryan said of his history with Trump in an interview with “60 Minutes” earlier this month. “That’s behind us. We’re way beyond that.”
Despite their agreement on plans to repeal Obamacare and tax cuts, the two remain at odds publicly over entitlement reform and foreign policy.
Ryan has distanced himself from Trump’s unfounded claims about millions of illegal votes in the election, his relationship with his business empire, and the president-elect’s doubts that Russia was behind a series of hacks against U.S. political institutions -– the position of 17 intelligence agencies.
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