The America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge 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 America, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad