Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

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

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad