Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton was in New Hampshire last month, Florida Senator Rick Scott is fighting to take over the First Republican campaign arm to cultivate donors, and Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney is defending Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s leading expert on infectious disease, while separating herself from Mr. Trump on some national security issues.
At the same time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is trying to shake up his conservative references by pushing a hard line on China, and Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky are trying to raise their stance as fiscal hooks by loudly opposing additional spending on relief from coronavirus.
Less attention, but equally hard work to burn her national profile, is Mrs. Noem. The governor, 48, has installed a TV studio in her state capitol, regularly became a Fox News and began taking advice from Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who still has the president’s ear.
Next month, she will address a provincial dinner in Iowa.
“It looks like there may be some interest on her part – it’s certainly being noticed,” said Jon Hansen, a Republican state representative in South Dakota, about Ms. Noem’s position for national bureau.
Their efforts have paid off, as evidenced by the news-driven celebration at Mount Rushmore. However, Mrs. Noem’s attempts to increase her profile have been without complications. And they illustrate the risks in political maneuvering with a president who has little restraint when it comes to confidentiality, and a White House who shares his obsession with, and antenna for, palace intrigue.
To the surprise of some of her own advisers, Mrs. Noem flew with Mr. Trump to Washington on Air Force One late in the evening after his Mount Rushmore speech. Attended by Mr. Lewandowski, she and the president spoke for more than an hour privately during the flight – a fact that Mr. Trump and some of his associates soon shared with other Republicans, according to officials familiar with his revelation.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Noem, Maggie Seidel, said she did not increase the vice presidency with Mr. Trump. Mr. Lewandowski, who is a paid adviser to the Pence-affiliated Greater America PAC, also denied that he or the governor ever raised the issue of replacing Mr. Pence on the ticket.
