The United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just 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 makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

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

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad