The United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US 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, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad