Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown 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’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

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

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad