Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad