The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

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

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad