Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, 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 US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad