On Tuesday, December 13, president-elect trump’s Thank You Tour landed in Wisconsin. As trump stood on stage, forgetting that he wasn’t campaigning any longer, he eventually turned his attention to House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was standing just off-stage.
During the campaign, Paul Ryan claimed that he would no longer support nor campaign for donald trump after audio tapes emerged in which trump bragged about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it because he’s famous. Paul Ryan was banking on trump losing, and hoping he could parlay his ethical stand into greater power should the GOP maintain the House of Representatives.
But that’s not what happened. trump won, and his supporters did not forget that Paul Ryan turned his back on their idol, and trump supporters are not known for their reasoned and measured response to things that upset them.
Now, as trump stood on a stage in West Allis, Wisconsin, reveling in the adulation from the crowd, he made his first effort to rebuild the bridge between himself and establishment Republicans he spent his campaign not just dismantling, but cheering as he set it ablaze.
The president-elect knew he faced an uphill challenge to re-patriate Speaker Ryan, and so his first comments were carefully selected (most likely by someone else).
“Speaker Paul Ryan, I’ve really come to appreciate him.” The crowd broke out into loud hisses and boos.
trump tried to quell the crowd. “Oh no, I’ve come to appreciate him.”
“Where is the house speaker? Where is he?”
More boos.
“He’s terrific. Honestly, he’s like a fine wine. Every day goes by, I get to appreciate his genius more and more. Now, if he ever goes against me I’m not going to say that, ok?”
trump does not like boos if he believes they are directed at him, and as he stood on stage, who else could the crowd be directing their boos to? Of course those boos were meant for Speaker Ryan, but trump was trying to associate himself with Ryan, so those boos were just as much meant for him.
trump learned during his campaign that if he ever felt he was losing a crowd, he had one major hit up his sleeve. Call it his “Baby Got Back”—the crowd just goes wild every time he breaks it out.
“We’re going to work on the wall, Paul.”
And the crowd went wild.
Meanwhile, in news that doesn’t matter…
The Internet loves to be lied to. A story went viral about a five-year-old boy who died in the arms of Santa Claus. The Internet grew its own tear ducts just to shed tears of sentimentality. It turns out the story is probably fake.
Finally, you should really know…
Syrian president Bashar Assad believes our own president-elect donald trump might be “a natural ally.” It must be because they both like torture so much.