Trump compares Paul Ryan to a 'fine wine,' stops Wisconsin crowd from booing him

Mark Abadi

House Speaker Paul Ryan was booed in his home state of Wisconsin after President-elect Donald Trump mentioned him by name at a rally Tuesday night.

"Speaker Paul Ryan," Trump began saying, drawing a loud round of boos from the crowd in West Allis, the latest site of Trump's "Thank you" tour.

"Oh no," Trump said over the jeers. "I've come to appreciate him!"

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Ryan had appeared onstage moments earlier to introduce Trump, and received an enthusiastic response. Later, Trump compared Ryan to "a fine wine" — "Every day I appreciate his genius more and more," he said.

The praise is a dramatic shift in tone from his presidential campaign, when the two were highly critical of each other. Ryan initially held off on endorsing Trump after the businessman won the Republican primary, but he eventually reversed his position in June.

Ryan again modified his position in October following the leak of a 2005 video in which Trump boasted about forcibly grabbing and manhandling women, saying he would stop defending or campaigning for Trump, though he still maintained his endorsement.

That prompted a retaliatory tweet from Trump: "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee," Trump said on Twitter.

Since then, the two have publicly struck a conciliatory tone, appearing together at press conferences and reportedly speaking on the phone almost every day.

Tuesday's reception isn't the first time a Wisconsin crowd has jeered Ryan. In October, the audience at a Green Bay campaign rally erupted into a chant of "Paul Ryan sucks" as a local Republican Party official spoke onstage.

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