Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided 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 “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.

However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom 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 attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, 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 less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad