The America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”

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 often blurred.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad