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

As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions 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 “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad