Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad