Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad