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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad