The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family 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 America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

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

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad