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

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than 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 that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States 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 numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding 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, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad