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

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US'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, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

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

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad