The America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad