A shocking viral photograph and an Air Force One encounter have propelled 24-year-old Beni Rae Harmony into the White House.
Beni Rae Harmony is US President Donald Trump’s newest press secretary.
And she has big shoes in her sights.
Former press secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped down in August.
President Trump, 80, has called the 29-year-old a “superstar” and admired her “beautiful face and those lips that don’t stop like a little machine gun”.
Does Ms Harmony fit the bill?
News of her weekend appointment immediately captured attention.
A 2021 photograph of her wearing a “F**k Joe Biden” T-shirt while toting an assault rifle leapt to viral status across social media platforms.
Former FBI Director James Comey is facing “grand conspiracy” and “presidential threat” charges for posting a picture showing “8647” (code for “cancelling” the “47th President”).
Ms Harmony faces no such charge.
And she comes with politically correct credentials.
Her first boss was youth evangelist and MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. She went on to work as a press aide “focusing on crisis management” for far-right Republican Congressmen Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz.
Mr Kirk was assassinated in September last year.
Mr Gosar was stripped of his Congressional Committee duties in 2021.
Mr Trump anointed Mr Gaetz to head the Department of Justice. But he abruptly quit Congress last year amid sexual misconduct and drug allegations.
Ms Harmony has most recently been working for the conservative commentary stream Real America’s Voice.
That’s how she caught Mr Trump’s eye, and appreciation, on a Press Pool trip aboard Air Force One to Ireland last month.
“I’m looking forward to this next chapter – serving the American people and continuing to fight for the American Dream,” she posted to social media at the weekend.
“America First.”
Glass staircase
Beni Rae Harmony isn’t afraid of a fight.
“Do you want to get a job in media? Try having Turning Point on your resume,” she told The Illinois Times.
“I have for the past two years been acting and pretending so that I could hold a job and so that I wouldn’t get fired, and so I wouldn’t be judged constantly for my beliefs.”
Ms Harmony credited youth evangelist Charlie Kirk for launching her career and giving her “belief in myself”.
She had worked for his Turning Point USA host Jack Posobiec. But Ms Harmony’s big break came with the assassination of her former boss.
“I’ve got attention from all over the world on this,” told The Illinois Times.
Her off-script, on-air televised tribute had earned her MAGA celebrity status.
Access all areas
Mr Trump has surrounded himself with fiercely loyal women.
“I love women, I think they’re great,” he told reporters in September.
He was responding to a quip from former Democrat President Barack Obama that “they’d be better” in charge of government.
“What a ridiculous statement that is. Right? Even you would say that!” Mr Trump retorted.
The women of the second Trump Administration have paid a high price.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem departed in March after a fiery clash with Congress where she attempted to defend Mr Trump’s immigration and deportation policies.
He fired Attorney-General Pam Bondi in April after expressing frustration at a lack of legal prosecutions targeting his political rivals.
Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer quit in April over accusations of inappropriate behaviour and misconduct.
And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned in May amid political furore over failures in the war against Iran.
Then 29-year-old White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped down from the country’s highest-profile job in August. That vacancy remains unfilled.
Ms Harmony is getting close.
She has been working as a correspondent for Real America’s Voice. And the political commentary streaming service, created as a platform for Mr Trump’s former adviser and MAGA evangelist Steve Bannon, gained access to the White House Press Corps last year.
Its chief political reporter is Brian Glenn.
But Ms Harmony got to travel with Mr Trump as its representative on his recent visit to Ireland.
There, she caught the President’s eye.
He was photographed holding a document labelled “Beni Rae Harmony” while aboard Air Force One on his return to the US.
That White House Press Pool correspondent is now an assistant press secretary.
“Beni Rae Harmony has been a trusted voice for the MAGA movement as a White House correspondent,” Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told US media.
“We look forward to having her on board!”
Trusted voice
Mr Trump last month evicted members of the White House Press Pool whom he didn’t like. Ms Harmony was not among them.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico have since won a federal court injunction ruling the ban likely unconstitutional. But the President continues to bar them from accessing his activities.
Ms Harmony, however, won a promotion.
A year ago, she didn’t know what her future held.
But she knew it would involve politics.
“I have lots of job offers,” she told the Illinois Times.
“I don’t know if I’m going to stay here in Springfield and decide to advocate or run for office. I haven’t decided, but there will be big plans in the future, so make sure you stay tuned.”
Now she’s working alongside 33-year-old Natalie Harp as a close personal media assistant to the President.
Ms Harp has set a new standard.
“I want things to always be right between us,” she wrote to the President in an apology for unflattering press attention earlier this year.
“I also know I’ve been distracted all week (forgetting to eat throughout the days, and even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time).”
The former far-right commentator and presenter signed the letter: “With all my heart, Natalie”.
The 47th President of the United States received similar admiration from his former press secretary.
Ms Leavitt called Mr Trump the “best boss and President ever”.
“What you see is what you get … he’s very real. There’s no guessing, no questioning, no spin,” she said.
She rose to become America’s youngest-ever Press Secretary after being hired as an assistant during the first Trump Administration.
Ms Leavitt has now accepted a job with Fox News.
There, she says she will bring “the unique perspective and candour that defined my tenure with the Trump administration”.
President Trump’s media profile is now in Ms Harmony’s hands.
What can we expect?
“I want to share with you one of my favourite sayings that Charlie [Kirk] would always tell us at the office,” she said during her Charlie Kirk tribute.
“He would yell it from the mountaintops, so please listen: ‘When conversations stop happening, when individuals become wordless, that’s when violence begins’.”