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

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

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

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, 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 presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad