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

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring 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. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god 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”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad