Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad