Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad