Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though 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 in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

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

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad