The United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

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

On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad