The Trump administration has a clear communication objective: Flood the zone with bad news to overwhelm us, keep us off-balance, and make us feel like we can’t stop their regressive and oppressive policies.
But even amidst this constant barrage, other patterns emerge.
They aren’t always easy to see — especially when the authoritarian objective is to convince you to close your eyes and ears. But when you do finally recognize these patterns, a hidden truth can begin to make itself clear.
For example, a few weeks ago I started to see a particular phrase in news headlines. And because I read hundreds of headlines and articles every day — the curse of working in the news business — I saw a pattern: The phrase “despite Trump.”
It appeared in The New York Times, which reported “Renewable Energy Is Booming Despite Trump’s Efforts to Slow It.”
It also showed up the Los Angeles Times, which carried the news that “Green Energy Stocks Surge Despite Trump’s Policies.”
Reuters, meanwhile, reported that “Europe Commits to Wind Energy Expansion Despite Trump Criticism.”
And that was just the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg. Other headlines crossed my desk in rapid succession:
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- EV Charging Keeps Expanding Despite Trump (Canary Media)
- Despite Trump, Renewable Energy Keeps Surging (Yale Climate Connections)
- “Why Companies Are Phasing Out These Super-Pollutants Despite Trump”(The Washington Post)
- States Will Keep Pushing AI Laws Despite Trump’s Efforts to Stop Them (Stateline)
- Clean Energy Is Still Booming in the U.S. Despite Trump’s Best Efforts(Fast Company)
- Chart: Clean Energy Remains Dominant in the U.S. — Despite Trump(Canary Media)
- Despite Trump, 2025 Saw Deeper Engagement With Climate Crisis (The Indian Express)
- Solar Power and Battery Storage Are Booming Despite Trump Policy Whiplash Amid Data Center Demand(Fortune)
- Despite Trump Admin’s Efforts, Coal Mining in Utah and the West Falls Flat(The Salt Lake Tribune)
- Climate Action in 2026: Progress Despite Trump Rollbacks (Capital News Service)
- Towns Built on Coal Pivot to New Businesses Despite Trump’s Coal Agenda (Associated Press)
- Global Investment in Renewable Energy Up 10% on 2024 Despite Trump Rollback (The Guardian)
- S. Cities Drive Energy Transition Despite Trump Resistance (Context)
Most of those had to do with renewable energy, which … despite Trump … continues to grow because it just makes business, economic, and ethical sense.
A few of the headlines, although not enough, pointed out progress in other areas:
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- Despite Trump Funding Freeze, Milwaukee Church Planted Oasis of Trees(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- Despite Trump Chaos, NSF Avoided Feared Dip in Research Financing(Science)
- Seven Environmental Wins Across the U.S. in 2025 Despite Trump-Era Reversals (The Guardian)
That feels a little less dramatic than the pattern of good news about renewables, but the core message remains: People and businesses continue to stand up against the Trump administration and succeed in many other ways, often by working together and demanding change — because change is inevitable.
Once you see the “despite Trump” pattern, you see it even when news sites don’t use the phrase: The protests in Minneapolis and other cities; the rapid growth of mutual aid networks; the handful of Republican legislators stepping across the aisle to vote their consciences; the journalists standing up for the first amendment; the election officials refusing to back down as the Trump administration tries to throw monkey wrenches into the midterm elections; the governments teaming up to rebalance international power dynamics; the millions of tiny actions taking place every day, around the country, around the world, to protect people, systems, the environment, human rights, and so much more.
That’s not enough, of course. It can never be in enough in an era where masked enforcers shoot people down in the streets, where the system systematically covers up the crimes of rich abusers, where anti-regulation extremism has crippled the federal government’s climate programs, and where the president constantly seeks revenge on his perceived enemies, fantasizes about nonexistent voter fraud, and threatens to take over elections.
Still, it shows that we’re making progress despite all of that (and more). And maybe the fact that the president can’t destroy renewable energy — no matter how hard he tries — tells us there are other things he can’t destroy and other progress we can keep making.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I understand the impulse to wrap yourself in a warm blanket and shield your eyes and ears and soul from the constant painful input.
But I encourage you: Let some of that information in. Process it. Look for patterns. Look for growth. Look for opportunities. Look for the signal hiding in the noise that can help you move forward — and maybe help us all move forward in the process.
And do all of that despite Trump.
Previously in The Revelator:
12 Environmental Commentaries That Defined Our Year in 2025
