Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.

However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad