The Note: Trump, Ryan Rekindle Goodwill
— -- NOTABLES
--TRUMP PRAISES PAUL RYAN: 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, reports ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL. "I've come to appreciate him," Trump said. "He's like a fine wine. Every day I appreciate his genius more and more." He added, "We're going to work on that wall, Paul.” Tuesday’s rally is the first time Ryan and Trump have appeared on stage 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. http://abcn.ws/2hla7zL
--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: “Is this not so cool?” House Speaker Paul Ryan marveled Tuesday night, looking out over the crowd gathered to see Donald Trump in Wisconsin. Yeah, Trump is cool now in Republican circles – no matter how you tangled with him in the primaries (Mitt Romney, Ryan) or even ran against him and suffered in the mutual insult game he perfected (Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina). Another former rival, Marco Rubio, stands as perhaps the biggest obstacle to Trump getting his Secretary of State pick confirmed. But does anyone truly expect Rubio will put himself on the line as the person who denied the new GOP president his pick for his most influential post? Perry snagged a job, Romney and Cruz cycled through Trump meetings but didn’t, Fiorina may yet nail something down, and Ryan can barely contain his enthusiasm about the new administration. Trump is now an admirer, of course: “He’s like a fine wine,” he said of Ryan on Tuesday. In other words? Trump was right. Trump’s campaign was based on the premise that the Washington political class was ineffective. He also made an indirect argument that his critics were being disingenuous – that politicians of both parties would say whatever they needed to stay in power, diminishing the importance of vows and promises in general. So far, as president-elect, he looks more right than wrong on that account.
--TRUMP PICKS REP. RYAN ZINKE FOR INTERIOR SECRETARY: President-elect Donald Trump today offered Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana the job of secretary of the interior in his administration, senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News last night. When reached by ABC News, a spokeswoman for Zinke declined to comment on whether he has accepted the position. "Today the president-elect offered the spot to congressman Zinke," Conway said. "It was a very competitive process and wonderful candidates." http://abcn.ws/2hwcVZ5
SPEED READ with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ADAM KELSEY
KANYE WEST SAYS HE DISCUSSED 'MULTICULTURAL ISSUES,' CHICAGO VIOLENCE WITH TRUMP. President-Elect Donald Trump met with rapper Kanye West at Trump Tower today, discussing "multicultural issues," bullying and violence in Chicago, according to the rapper. Trump appeared to have a slightly different take on the meeting, saying the men "discussed life." "We’ve been friends for a long time," Trump said, calling West a "good man." After the meeting, West initially declined to elaborate on what was discussed: "I just want to take a picture right now," he said. ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ has more: http://abcn.ws/2gwTSeU
HOW A SINGLE SENATE REPUBLICAN COULD TANK TILLERSON'S NOMINATION. Marco Rubio is not the only Republican senator to express concerns about President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, over his connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Rubio is the only skeptical Republican, so far, who has the power to derail Tillerson’s nomination before it reaches the Senate floor. The Florida senator sits on the upper chamber’s 19-member Foreign Relations Committee, before which Tillerson’s nomination hearing will take place, writes ABC’s ALI ROGIN. http://abcn.ws/2gx6PFv
ANALYSIS: FOR SECRETARY OF STATE, TRUMP CHOOSES FIGHT OVER FLIGHT. Donald Trump's search for a secretary of state took him on an ideological tour of the political world he upended, only for him to land basically where he started. Trump’s unique reality show of a search process cycled through former rivals, sitting senators, Bush administration officials, establishment figures and even a certain onetime presidential nominee who famously called him a “phony,” a “fraud” and a “con man,” writes ABC’s RICK KLEIN. http://abcn.ws/2gIJrbG
RICK PERRY ONCE FORGOT THE NAME OF THE AGENCY HE MAY LEAD. Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate a man to lead the Department of Energy who infamously forgot its name. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is Trump's pick for secretary of energy — a surprise to some, since Perry previously said he would eliminate the agency if he had his way, ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY notes. During a presidential primary debate on CNBC in 2011, when then-candidate Perry was listing "three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone," he was able to name Commerce and Education but blanked on the third, saying, "What's the third one there?" http://abcn.ws/2gXy2lY
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID ABOUT HIS BUSINESS PLANS. The decision to postpone the scheduled announcement on how Donald Trump plans to separate himself from his business empire is the latest in a series of statements he has made about his plans. The talk of how Trump will remove himself -- or whether he even will -- from his eponymous brand started during the campaign and has carried through the transition. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY has a rundown of the clearest comments the president-elect has made about how he will move from the business world to the political sphere: http://abcn.ws/2hqpiIv
EVANGELICAL LEADER TONY PERKINS BLASTS REX TILLERSON AS TRUMP'S PICK FOR SECRETARY OF STATE. Evangelical leader Tony Perkins is slamming President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, ExxonMobil’s Rex Tillerson, claiming the CEO would advocate for "the leftist social policy of the Obama years.” Perkins, who leads conservative Christian lobbying nonprofit the Family Research Council, took aim at Tillerson’s ties to the Boy Scouts of America and donations at ExxonMobil to Planned Parenthood, which the company said in a statement today are “based entirely on employees’ and retirees’ support for these organizations and does not reflect ExxonMobil’s philanthropic priorities or support for community causes,” reports ABC’s MERIDITH MCGRAW. http://abcn.ws/2hspeF1
WHO’S TWEETING?
@SpeakerRyan: .@GovernorPerry's record of job creation and work to help unleash America's energy potential makes him a great fit to lead @ENERGY.
@zbyronwolf: It's the whitest, malest cabinet since 1989, per @gkrieg calculations - http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-diversity/index.html …
@CapehartJ: “I can’t speak to what priorities the next administration may set.” Attorney General Loretta Lynch http://wapo.st/2gDDRZx
@NorahODonnell: IBM's Rometty plans to talk 'new collar' jobs with Trump via @USATODAY http://usat.ly/2hKxY8Q
@AmbassadorPower: #Aleppo is joining Rwanda and Srebrenica as defining historical events that embody evil. #Assad, #Russia, #Iran know no shame.