Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad