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

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad