Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing 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.

But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad