Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

But in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad