The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, 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 post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad