The United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When 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 steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.

But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad