The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year after the president was elected 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'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened 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 less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face 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.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad