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

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump 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 camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.

But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

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

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad