The America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family 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 would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad