Photographer catches Scott Bessent writing mantra to himself during cabinet meeting

A Reuters photographer Evan Vucci zeroed in on a Trump Cabinet secretary's notes scribbled with a message to himself.

"Resilience," read the top of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's notes during an eventful meeting on Wednesday.

Bessent was sitting in a meeting that featured Trump threatening to bomb U.S. allies and Department of Homeland Security Sec. Markwayne Mullin saying Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) deserved to be pepper-sprayed.

The close-up of Bessent's jottings showed a few uplifting reminders for the Cabinet secretary.

"Prosperity" was the other message he had for himself. "Operation Economic Fury," an economic sanctions campaign against Iran, also appeared with an upward arrow next to it.

In the middle of the writing pad, Bessent wrote "Just in Time" with a check mark next to it. Below that, he put "Just in Case," with "resilience" written just underneath it.