In the book, Victor Nueman (yes, a man) is the puppet president put into office by Vought so they could rule the country. He was created as a parody of George W. Bush (who many saw as a puppet president for Cheney) and is legally retarded. I'm talking can't even properly function, handicapped.
So Nueman in the show being some sort of mastermind is a massive swerve. The only connection I can see to the comic and a possible motivation for her actions is Comic Nueman works for Vought. They could be doing the exact opposite of the book, where Nueman is actually the secret shadow CEO of Vought and Edgar is just the public face. And she's playing some sort of long game to get herself elected as president so Vought then has complete control over everything, and the masses wouldn't even realize it.