Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad