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

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad