Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely 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 just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

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

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

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

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad