Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating 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, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad