Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has 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 concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding 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 correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused 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 these days than say anything bad