The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

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 demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, 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 more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad