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

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems 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 seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

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

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad