Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments 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 “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

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

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US 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. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad