The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, 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 environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad