Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad