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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

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

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad