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

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad