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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad