The United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad