Trump's America During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

But over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America 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 democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities 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 in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

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

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad