public function render() {
    $paged = get_query_var('paged') ? absint(get_query_var('paged')) : 1;

    // Exclude spotlight + trending-stories
    $spot_ids  = get_posts([ 'tag' => 'spotlight-post', 'fields' => 'ids', 'posts_per_page' => -1 ]);
    $trend_ids = get_posts([ 'tag' => 'trending-stories', 'fields' => 'ids', 'posts_per_page' => -1 ]);
    $exclude   = array_merge( (array) $spot_ids, (array) $trend_ids );

    // Custom query
    $args = [
      'tag'            => 'homepage-trending',
      'posts_per_page' => 10,
      'post__not_in'   => $exclude,
      'paged'          => $paged,
    ];
    $query = new WP_Query($args);

    // Pagination vars
    $total_pages = $query->max_num_pages;
    $prev_page_url = get_pagenum_link( max( 1, $paged - 1 ) );
    $next_page_url = get_pagenum_link( $paged + 1 );

    echo '<section class="homepage-trending-section">
      <div class="homepage-trending-container">
        <h2 class="homepage-trending-main-title">' .
          esc_html( $this->settings['section_title'] ) .
        '</h2>

        <div class="homepage-trending-posts-list">';
    
    if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
            $query->the_post();

            $cats = get_the_category();
            $cat  = $cats[0] ?? null;
            $cat_link = $cat ? get_category_link($cat->term_id) : '';

            echo '<article class="homepage-trending-post-item">
                <div class="homepage-trending-post-image-wrapper">
                  <a href="' . esc_url(get_permalink()) . '">';
            the_post_thumbnail('large', ['class'=>'homepage-trending-post-image']);
            echo   '</a>
                </div>
                <div class="homepage-trending-post-content">
                  <div class="homepage-trending-post-meta">';
            if ( $cat ) {
                echo '<p class="homepage-trending-post-category">
                        <a href="' . esc_url($cat_link) . '">' . esc_html($cat->name) . '</a>
                      </p>';
            }
            echo '<p class="homepage-trending-post-date">' . get_the_date( 'F j, Y' ) . '</p>
                  </div>
                  <h3 class="homepage-trending-post-title">
                    <a href="' . esc_url(get_permalink()) . '">' . esc_html(get_the_title()) . '</a>
                  </h3>
                  <p class="homepage-trending-post-author">
                    <a href="' . esc_url(get_author_posts_url(get_the_author_meta('ID'))) . '">' . esc_html(get_the_author_meta('display_name')) . '</a>
                  </p>
                  <p class="homepage-trending-post-excerpt">' . wp_kses_post( wp_trim_words( get_the_excerpt(), 25, '…' ) ) . '</p>
                </div>
              </article>';
        }
        wp_reset_postdata();
    } else {
        echo '<p>' . esc_html__( 'No trending posts found.', 'bricks' ) . '</p>';
    }
    echo '</div>';

    // PAGINATION FOOTER
    if ( $total_pages > 1 ) {
        if ( $paged === 1 ) {
            echo '<div class="homepage-trending-footer">
                    <a href="' . esc_url($next_page_url) . '" class="read-more-stories-button">'
                        . esc_html__( 'Read More Stories', 'bricks' ) .
                    '</a>
                  </div>';
        } elseif ( $paged < $total_pages ) {
            echo '<div class="homepage-trending-footer">
                    <a href="' . esc_url($prev_page_url) . '" class="homepage-trending-prev">&laquo; '
                        . esc_html__( 'Prev', 'bricks' ) . '</a>
                    <a href="' . esc_url($next_page_url) . '" class="homepage-trending-next">'
                        . esc_html__( 'Next', 'bricks' ) . ' &raquo;</a>
                  </div>';
        } else {
            echo '<div class="homepage-trending-footer">
                    <a href="' . esc_url($prev_page_url) . '" class="homepage-trending-prev">&laquo; '
                        . esc_html__( 'Prev', 'bricks' ) . '</a>
                  </div>';
        }
    }

    echo '</div></section>';
}