The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, 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 investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad