Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad