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

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

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

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad