Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies 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 of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad