Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost 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 freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

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

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge 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,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left 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 the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian 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, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad