Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad