The United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.

But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation 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”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad