The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad