The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, 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 America, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad