The America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” 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, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, 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 post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies 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 government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad