The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

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

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad