Trump's America During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

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

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad