Ms. Conway said the stories of disarray in the White House, including recent accounts that she has been sidelined lately, were nothing more than tiresome palace intrigue. And without naming names, she said the attacks directed at her were really desperate attacks against the president by political enemies still sore about the election.

“To try to remove me from the equation would remove one of his voices and one of his trusted aides. And that would be hurtful to him,” she said. “They didn’t see this coming. They weren’t prepared for this result — even though they all ran around and said: ‘We’re a divided country! We’re a divided country!’”

It was not as if the support for Mr. Trump, who will speak to the conference Friday morning, is not enthusiastic.

“I always said he’s not a stupid man. And if he has the right people around him he’s going to do the right thing,” said Daniel Cirucci of Cherry Hill, N.J., who was standing in line on Thursday evening to listen to Vice President Mike Pence, a conservative he said he deeply admired. “I think he realizes the enormity of the job,” Mr. Cirucci added. “Now does that mean Trump is going to stop being Trump? No.”

These should be good times for conservatives — and much of the time they are. They control not just the White House but both houses of Congress and appear on the verge of regaining a majority on the Supreme Court. They have not dominated so many state governments in close to a century.

But part of the subtext of CPAC this year has been how conservative leaders are trying to smooth out the rougher edges of their movement, not all of which involve Mr. Trump.