The United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives 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 America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad