Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad