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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge 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,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad