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

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad