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

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering 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 defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad