The United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see 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 purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad