The United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad