Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned 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 has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

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

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad